2012–2013
Agile web application development at the University of Economics, Prague
A full-semester course in which five teams launched five working websites. The first of them all.
Innovation Lab
From an idea to a validated concept.
A facilitated program in which people from universities, foundations and companies get a project of their own off the ground. From the first idea, through customer interviews, to a concept that holds up in the real world.
How the lab runs
Live facilitated sessions are the core of it. Between them the teams talk to customers, test what works, and come back with what they found.
These are not lectures. Every block ends with participants checking something with real people, and the next one starts where that left off.
What the lab solves
A course is usually where it ends
A course gives people a method. It gives them nothing to hold on to at the moment they want to really get their idea moving, and that is where most ideas die. The lab is the part that comes after.
Building it in-house is a different job
An institution is expected to show that new things come out of it. But building a program for that and keeping it running is a discipline of its own, and nobody inside was trained in it.
You do not have to build it yourself
The lab works as an external innovation department. The method, the pace and the attention each project gets are already built, and they arrive from outside.
Programs
Where it has run before
More than twenty innovation programs since 2012, for universities, foundations and companies.
- 2012–2013 Agile web application development at the University of Economics, Prague
- 2012 WebExpo Startup Camp
- 2013 eClub Summer
- 2013–2016 The Vodafone Foundation Lab
- 2014 Struct Innovation Lab
- 2014–2016 Social Impact Award
- 2018–2024 The Innovation Lab at Charles University
- 2025–2026 Hornbach Talent Program
2012
WebExpo Startup Camp
A ten-day lean startup course, run with CTU's Inovacentrum, a different mentor every day.
2013
eClub Summer
A series of startup workshops, run with the Czech Technical University.
2013–2016
The Vodafone Foundation Lab
A six-month program for socially beneficial projects, with mentors and micro-grants for experiments.
2014
Struct Innovation Lab
A private accelerator for entrepreneurs from his own network.
2014–2016
Social Impact Award
A summer accelerator for young social innovators, run with Impact Hub Prague.
2018–2024
The Innovation Lab at Charles University
A practical seminar where students launch projects of their own and find out whether entrepreneurship is the path for them. Campus Hybernská.
2025–2026
Hornbach Talent Program
Nine months, four projects, teams across Czechia and Slovakia, mostly online. A program for experienced people from the shop floor, not for juniors: for the ones 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. Some of the participants have since taken that career step.
“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.”
Learning and Development Manager, Hornbach
Thinking about a lab of your own?
Write a few sentences about who you want to support and where you are. We will come back with a proposal for what the program could look like.