LFU:online

This course will teach students how to assess, plan, and finance an infrastructure investment in a challenging environment. Under the project format, students will work with real-world data and materials provided by the project partner (Doppelmayr), and work together with the company on developing a ropeway project.

As quality, technology and market leader in ropeway engineering, Doppelmayr/Garaventa operates production plants as well as sales and service centers in 50 countries worldwide. To date, the group has built more than 15,100 installations for customers in 96 nations. Since the very early days of Doppelmayr, winter tourism has been the company’s core market. Nonetheless, ropeways constitute a modern mobility solution that proved to be applicable in several areas. Doppelmayr/Garaventa’s expertise as transport and mobility provider focuses on four different fields of application: winter tourism, summer tourism, material transport and urban transit (see the world’s largest urban ropeway network built by Doppelmayr/Garaventa: https://lapaz.doppelmayr.com/en/). The business case for this course will be an international ropeway project that is being developed by an independent business development agency. The ropeway project aims to create a sustainable touristic hotspot area and, thereby, reduce fuel-based tourist feeder traffic in the target location. With the cable car it is not only aimed to develop a unique tourist attraction, putting in scene one of the most impressive landscapes, but also to set the course for sustainable, CO2-friendly future tourism with high local added value. Students will be asked to analyze the business case and prepare the project finance with the objective to convince potential investors to fund the project. Therefore, students will be provided with real project data and obtain profound insights into international business development activities.

The course takes a project format. Students are required to attend all class sessions, prepare materials between sessions, participate in group work, and manage relationships with the partner company. Students will have to prepare an intermediary report of their progress (to be presented at the company headquarters), project materials, as well as a final presentation.

30% final presentation

25% project materials

20% mid-term presentation

15% peer evaluation

10% project proposal

Total scores between 60% and 70% receive a grade 4, scores between 70% and 80% receive a grade 3, scores between 80% and 90% receive a grade 2, and scores above 90% receive a grade 1

participation requirements see curricula