MCI Welcome 2025: Official Opening of the Academic Year

1,300 first-semester students at Congress Innsbruck with NATO CIO Manfred Boudreaux-Dehmer and Flix SE Co-Founder Daniel Krauss

With an inspiring Welcome Event at Congress Innsbruck, MCI | The Entrepreneurial School® once again kicked off the new academic year in celebratory fashion. This year, the event welcomed 1,300 first-semester students from 65 nations, featuring top-level guest lectures, thought-provoking discussions, and the conferral of an honorary professorship to Flix Co-Founder Daniel Krauss, who has supported the MCI for years as a member of the MCI Advisory Board.

MCI Rector Andreas Altmann welcomed the new students on behalf of the Entrepreneurial School®: “You have stood out among more than 5,000 applications from around the world. Now it’s up to you to seize this opportunity — to be courageous, take responsibility, and shape your own future. Be curious, be entrepreneurial, and be ready to forge new paths. If you don’t try, you can’t succeed. Welcome to MCI – and best of luck and success!”

Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection: A Key NATO Priority

The series of guest lectures was opened by Manfred Boudreaux-Dehmer, Chief Information Officer of NATO, with a compelling keynote titled "Securing the Future: Trust, Data & Cyber Challenges at NATO". His address sparked an engaging discussion with active participation from the student audience.

At the heart of his presentation was the concept of cyber resilience – the ability to remain operational during a cyberattack, recover quickly, and learn from the incident. Internet and data security, he emphasized, have evolved into independent domains of action, now comparable to traditional military fields such as land, air, sea, and space. Special attention was given to NATO’s initiatives to combat targeted disinformation by foreign powers using artificial intelligence, as well as the alliance’s close cooperation with its member states and partners.

Honorary Professorship and Keynote by Daniel Krauss

Another highlight of the academic year’s opening was the formal conferral of an honorary professorship (Prof. h.c.) upon Daniel Krauss, Co-Founder and CIO of Flix SE and longstanding member of the MCI Advisory Board. In his subsequent inaugural lecture titled "Disruption of Travel – Experiencing Mobility in a New Way", the acclaimed startup entrepreneur explored the future of sustainable mobility, offering unique insights into Flix’s evolution, strategy, and success principles on its journey to becoming a globally operating enterprise.

As a tech company in the mobility sector, Flix stands for innovation, digitalization, and customer focus. According to Krauss, key drivers of success include team spirit, entrepreneurial thinking, and the courage to continually redefine boundaries. He also spoke candidly about personal decisions, intuition, and the company’s founding years. The message: leave beaten paths, stay focused on delivering value to customers, view success as a responsibility rather than a reason to rest, and remain personally humble.

The event concluded with a relaxed get-together, providing space for students, faculty, researchers, and honored guests to connect, exchange ideas, and network in a dynamic and personal setting.