Ideas into projects. People into makers.

A facilitated program where participants develop their own idea and find out whether it holds up. They stop in time, or it grows into a project. Either way, they become more experienced makers.

What changes

What makes participants more experienced makers

It is not about the first idea they bring. It is about all the ones that follow, one of which might succeed.

They dare to start

Instead of spending weeks polishing a perfect plan, they quickly pull together what matters most and get going. At the start it is enough to know what threatens their idea most, and to test that first.

They can test an idea

They try it quickly with the people it is meant to help and, depending on what they learn, change it or stop.

They keep going

When they run into failure, they change direction. The first setback is no reason for them to stop right away.

They are not alone

In the lab they get mentoring, and help from the other participants, who are often tackling very similar problems.

Format

How the lab runs

Runs so far have lasted from three to nine months. Whatever a team comes up with, it checks straight away with the people the project is meant to help. Sessions are in person or online.

Opening workshops

Three sessions at the start: how to get a project going and find its biggest risks, how to build a first prototype and how to ask the people it is meant to help. The rest of the program belongs to work on the projects.
Work in the field

Teams show their prototypes to the people they are meant to help and watch how they react. A short regular report shows what is going well and where a team is stuck, and the consultations build on it.
Team sessions

The teams show one another what they found and give each other advice. They also present their progress regularly, and that keeps the pace.
Finale and reflection

At the end the teams present their results to guests from outside, in a company run perhaps to its management. A shared reflection then names what each person takes away.

Programs

Where it has run, and with whom

Seven programs and more than twenty runs since 2012, for universities, foundations and companies.

2012–2014 · university Agile web application development at the University of Economics, Prague
2012 · community WebExpo Startup Camp
2013–2017 · foundation The Vodafone Foundation Lab
2014 · community Struct Innovation Lab
2014–2015 · nonprofit Social Impact Award
2018–2024 · university The Innovation Lab at Charles University
2025–2026 · company Hornbach Talent Program

2012–2014 · university

Agile web application development at the University of Economics, Prague

The first in the series: a full-semester course in which student teams built web applications of their own. In the 2012/13 run five teams launched five working websites. Jan Veselý led its workshops for two years, on how to test an idea with customers.

Course lead: Lukáš Burkoň
Lab sessions: Jan Mittner
Lean Canvas and Scrum: Václav Stoupa
Guest lecturers: Petr Štědrý, Jiří Sekera and Lukáš Hrdlička
Product owners: Karel Smutný, Pavlína Sládková, Michael Jarolín, Tereza Šimůnková and Vojtěch Roček

2012 · community

WebExpo Startup Camp

A ten-day course in August 2012 in which three teams of early-stage founders tried out how to test a business idea quickly, with a different mentor every day. WebExpo ran it with CTU's Inovacentrum, and Jan Veselý led the program with Václav Stoupa.

Program lead: Václav Stoupa
Operations: Šárka Štrossová
CTU's Inovacentrum: Radovan Igliar
Mentors: Petr Douša, Juraj Michálek, Jan Král, Lucie Appeltauerová, Adam Hrubý, Jiří Fiala, Lukas Fittl, Lukáš Plíhal and Jeanne Trojan
Support: Jiří Sekera
Partners: Czech Startups (Zbyněk Meloun, Michal Fiala) and 42 Angels (Jan Všianský)

2013–2017 · foundation

The Vodafone Foundation Lab

A six-month accelerator of the Vodafone Foundation for technology projects of nonprofits and social enterprises. Every team got a mentor and a small grant to try its idea out in practice.

Four runs and 36 projects within the Technologie pro společnost program. The first run was organized by the Lean Startup CZ association, the other three by Impact Hub Prague. Jan Veselý led the first run and, for the other three, designed the method and mentored the teams.

A year after the first run, eight of its nine projects answered an evaluation, and all of them would recommend the program. Among those who went through it were Rekola (2013) and Kokoza (2015).

Coordination: Roman Bojko (also impact evaluation) and Zuzana Jarešová
Organisation: Kristýna Gavriněvová, Kateřina Kropáčová, Hana Kavánková, Petra Hájková and Bohumila Beranová
Vodafone Foundation: Ondřej Zapletal, Jana Neupauerová, Adriana Dergam, Lucie Šplíchalová, Gabriela Drastichová and Jiří Švarc (Vodafone Czech Republic)
Mentors: Petr Pouchlý, Zdeněk Rudolský, Petr Vítek, Jan Slavík, Robert Tůma, Jan Mašek, Anna Vondráčková, Silke Horák, Jan Louda, Jan Všianský, David Kovalský, Martin Kešner, Ivan Kraner, Vítek Ježek, Ondřej Staněk, Kateřina Grausová, Jana Hamplová, Anna Kucharská and Vladěna Šebestová
Workshop lecturers: Jiří Bréda, Aleš Burger, Jan Schmid, Vojtěch Foukal, Lukáš Hrdlička, Lukáš Plíhal, Marcela Janíčková, Kateřina Koželuzká and Jakub Mareš
Coach: Jan Kotovský
Demo Day juries: Margareta Křížová, Pavel Cyprich, Jiří Štepán, Jiří Knitl, Martin Palička, Roman Všetečka, Jan Kužník, Jan Šimík, Iva Podoláková and David Slížek

2014 · community

Struct Innovation Lab

A private accelerator for early-stage entrepreneurs. Ten teams took part, and from April to October 2014 there were eight half-day sessions on who a project is for, what threatens it most, and how to test and measure that quickly. The last four sessions were shared with Laboratoř Plus, the follow-on to the first run of the Vodafone Foundation Lab.

Talks: Kateřina Pljaskovová, Lukáš Plíhal, Jan Slavík and Vojtěch Foukal
Team support: Petra Hájková
Venues: Era svět, Pracovna.cz and Adato Paradigma

2014–2015 · nonprofit

Social Impact Award

A summer accelerator for young social innovators, run with Impact Hub Prague.

Two summers, for the competition's winners and finalists. Jan Veselý designed and coordinated the first, in 2014: eight teams, a two-day opening intensive, six summer workshops and PwC consultants as mentors. In the second he co-led the opening intensive. Among those who went through it were Rekola (2014) and Czechitas (2015).

Organisation: Roman Bojko, Kristýna Bartoš, Cezar Neaga and Hana Kavánková
Lecturers: Aleš Pokorný, Petr Pouchlý, Vojtěch Foukal, Markéta Jechová, Marcela Janíčková, Jiří Bréda, Lukáš Hrdlička, Jan Kotovský, Kamil Pošvic, Silke Horák, Petr Skondrojanis, Miroslav Spousta, Jan Šimík and Pavel Mrázek
Mentors: PwC consultants and Silke Horák
Partners: PwC, the Orlický family and Česká spořitelna

2018–2024 · university

The Innovation Lab at Charles University

The practical seminar Rozjeď projekt, where students launched projects of their own and found out whether entrepreneurship was the path for them. Twelve semesters at Campus Hybernská: the first run had about twelve applicants, the sixth about fifty. Altogether over two hundred students from some twenty faculties enrolled.

In the fourth run two projects took second and third place in the Nakopni Prahu competition: IT education for secondary school students and book e-readers for seniors. The e-readers then became a service of the Municipal Library of Prague.

The course archive at rozjedprojekt.cz (in Czech)

“An excellent course! I appreciate that it is built neither around theory nor around a simulation, but around creating a real project.”

From an anonymous evaluation of the Rozjeď projekt course

In the media

Co-led the course: Ondřej Mrkus (2020–2024)
Mentors: Lenka Filipová, Michal Beránek, Pedro Gomez, Tomáš Brabec, Andra Nistor, David Klepetko, Pavel Moravec, Zdeňka Havrlíková, Pavlína Louženská, Václav Formánek, Tomáš Poucha and Alena Ptáčková
Guests and lecturers: Jan Louda, Petr Vaňásek, Martin Vítek, Lukáš Rezek, Miky Škoda, Jiří Bréda and Ondřej Fryc
Research and evaluation: Filip Štochl
Design Thinking workshops, alumni meetups and Innovation Breakfasts: Veronika Haissingerová
Map the System: Barbora Komberec Novosadová
Podcast gym: Pavla Chadimová, Filip Liška and Josef Kačírek
PR: Klára Nechvílová
Faculty of Arts: Jan Bičovský and Eva Lehečková (the course's start)
Charles University's Centre for Knowledge and Technology Transfer: Hana Kosová, Jiří Valach and Ivana Sýkorová (leadership)

2025–2026 · company

Hornbach Talent Program

Nine months, four projects, teams across Czechia and Slovakia, mostly online. A program for experienced people from the shop floor who are heading toward running a store.

The participants chose the topics themselves: the customer experience around complaints, working with schools, internal workshops, saving natural resources. It closed with a finale in Bratislava where the teams presented their results.

“A big share of the credit goes to Jan Veselý. He brought his experience of leading innovation projects and helped set a pace where we did not stop at plans but actually built things.”

Zuzana Vovsová
Learning and Development Manager, Hornbach

Original post on LinkedIn (in Czech)

Hornbach: Zuzana Vovsová
Workshop on how teams work: Miroslav Spousta

Jan Veselý will guide you through the lab

Since 2012 he has built innovation and accelerator programs for universities, foundations and companies, such as the Innovation Lab at Charles University, the Vodafone Foundation Lab and a lab within the Hornbach Talent Program. At IBM he ran the Smarter University program. He also founded EduFórum, a platform for innovators in education. He started as a programmer and product manager, and today he guides organisations and individuals in adapting responsibly to the changes technology brings.

LinkedIn: Jan Veselý

Thinking about the lab?

For an organisation: write a few sentences about who you want to support, and we will come back with a proposal for what the program could look like. For yourself: write what you want to work on, and we will get in touch when the first open run is announced.

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