Companies and their employees face the challenge of constantly adapting to new technologies. To do so, they need leaders who have broad and networked knowledge of management, leadership and the most important technology trends.

Academic continuing education for business and industry

Kurt Matyas, Vice Rector Academic Affairs at the TU Wien and Vice President of the Association of Austrian Industrial Engineers, sees the need for combined continuing education at the intersection of technology, management and leadership in business and industry that goes beyond the undergraduate level: "The idea of life-long learning is to give people the opportunity to evolve with the times and to continue learning throughout their lives. The bachelor's degree provides a basic understanding that can be deepened in a master's degree program. Once in professional life, the rapid development of technology and society presents new challenges after a few years. These can be solved by means of an educational upgrade, which brings knowledge in the area of new technologies and economic competencies up to date." For Kurt Matyas, therefore, and in view of the university's educational mission, it is important to offer ambitious individuals up-to-date continuing education programs. This is implemented by the TU Wien Academy for Continuing Education (ACE).

The new TechMBAs at TU Wien

To meet the current needs of business and industry, the TU Wien Academy now offers Austria's unique Tech MBA. The various continuing education programs are primarily aimed at executives, with a business or technical background, who would like to expand their technical expertise to a future field or hone their management & leadership skills. The next entry into the Tech MBAs "Automotive Industry" and "Mobility Transformation" is possible on February 2, 2022. Other programs in the areas of "Operations Management", "Modern Workplace & Facility Management" and "Sustainability & Technology in Finance" are in preparation.

Technological change needs prepared managers with leadership skills

According to Herbert Demel, former Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi AG, technical know-how is particularly important when it comes to selecting the most profitable and promising trends in companies. For the implementation, in addition to technical competence and management skills, it is above all a matter of people skills and psychology, as well as the right feeling for change processes. "Being in the right place at the right time, with the right intensity, is crucial. There is no point in introducing technologies too early if the market, society and politics are not yet ready for them. Finding the right time and setting the course for change within one's own company, against all odds, is a difficult task and it is therefore important to know which buttons to push in order to achieve this." 

Dieter Siegel, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Rosenbauer International AG, the world's leading manufacturer of firefighting technology, is also aware of the central role that management expertise plays in the introduction of new technologies in his company: "Technology is at the core of every new product in our developments. Surrounding this technological expertise are many management functions: those that decide and prioritize the allocation of development resources, the transition to series production with quality, supplier, process as well as supply chain management. In addition, there may be organizational changes and the development of the necessary human resources, marketing and international sales. Leadership is particularly needed when revolutionary developments also require change management in the company, among sales partners and customers. The biggest competition for new ideas are the existing ideas within the company.

The features of a successful education

Wolfgang Güttel, Head of the TU Wien Academy, sees the recipe for success of successful continuing education in the combination of various partial aspects. "On the one hand, we know what companies and executives need in their management practice in order to make strategically excellent decisions in technologically challenging times. On the other hand, through our research, we also know the latest global trends in technology and management. Based on this, we are able to build bridges between practice and research and offer our participants high-quality programs that are oriented towards the latest research. Through modern learning methods, we also increase the ability of managers to deal with the technological change associated with the use of new technologies. At the same time, our participants become fit for higher management levels and more competent in dealing with the latest technological developments." 

Academic director Prof. Michael Filzmoser offers insights into the MBA Digital Transformation & Change Management in an expert interview. In the interview, Filzmoser explains why continuing education in the area of management and technology is particularly important in today's world and what skills executives need for successful digital transformation: