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Product Lab

Real challenges. Real products. Real Value.

General InformationDescriptionKey LearningsBenefitsScheduleGoalsExaminationContact PersonsAdditional ServicesFAQLiteratureRegistration

Attention

Product Lab

15 Weeks. 20 Master's Students from different universities. Find your challenge, create your product.

The Product Lab program at HPI is your space to learn how to develop innovative tech products that truly resonate with customers. Over the course of the semester, you will work in agile teams to ‘hack’ an industry of your choosing and develop a solution for a relevant problem within it. The Product Lab is both a challenge and a space for experimentation that allows you to explore your ideas, learn how to create products and equip you with the business know-how to make it a reality.

Registration will open soon
Core Program

General Information

Term(s)

Summer & Winter Term

Time investment

180 hours in total

ECTS

6

Module type

Elective module

Module selection at HPI

Module selection of the “Product Lab” at HPI (preliminary)

ITSE: HPI-MK, HPI-SSK-RW, HPI-SSK-ML
DE: HPI-PSK-EI
CS: HPI-DE-RWM, HPI-PSK-ML
DH: HPI-PSK-MLE
SSE: HPI-PSK-EI
ITSE BA: HPI-PSK

Grades

Yes

Enrollment deadline

Examination date

Teaching format

Project seminar: Every week, we will meet on Wednesday from 1:30 pm to 4:45 pm with workshops, coaching sessions and guest speakers

Teaching language

English

Registration requirements and link

Fee

Free

Team budget

tbd

HPI Founder Scholarship

Participants

Maximum number of Participants

20 master's students

Room (Location)

tbd

Key dates

14.10.2026

Kick-off event from 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm

09.12.2025

Midterm Event

16.12.2026

Christmas Special

27.01.2027

Pitch Event

Learning and Teaching Methods

  • Use experimentation to develop your idea step-by-step.
  • Create something real through prototyping and iterations.
  • Learn practical business skills beyond the classroom.
  • Present your work to an experienced jury at Demo Day.
  • Collaborate with students from multiple universities and disciplines.
  • Go on a field trip to get inspired by Berlin’s tech startup community.
  • Earn 6 ECTS credits while enjoying the process.
Details

Description

Join up to 20 brilliant master’s students from universities across Berlin and Brandenburg. Work as a team to explore industry challenges, choose the one you want to hack and tackle it with innovative technology.

No idea yet? No problem - you’ll develop one during the first weeks.

No team yet? We’ll match you with like-minded innovators.

During this 15-weekseminar, a group consisting of three to five students will find a relevant industry problem and set out to hack it through innovative tech. They will develop a real product and their own pitch deck.

The seminar kicks off with an orientation session on October 14th, 2026, 1:30 pm at HPI during which participants will connect and form teams, receive an overview of the semester and begin working on finding relevant problems in three industries of their choosing. In the subsequent weeks, they will apply systems thinking and innovation methods to identify ways to hack these problems and select the challenge that they will work on during the semester.

The Product Lab will guide them through targeted and purposeful experimentation and prototyping to create a product that truly resonates with customers.

Students will receive the chance to visit Berlin’s tech start-ups, meet founders and professionals to get inspired. They can expect to receive feedback from external experts, enjoy a special Christmas event and finally pitch their ideas to an expert jury at the end of the semester to showcase their ideas.

Key learnings

Key learnings

Benefits

■ 01

A 15-week course of extensive ideation, engineering, innovation, and user interaction.

■ 02

Find relevant challenges and explore real solutions.

■ 03

Combination of theory and practical work by learning and implementing.

■ 04

Self-reliant interdisciplinary teamwork partnering with students from various universities in the Berlin-Potsdam area.

■ 05

Intensive tutoring within a creative space in dedicated project rooms.

■ 06

Opportunities to meet real teach founders and get inspired.

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Schedule

The project seminar takes place every week according to the following schedule.

Coming soon

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Key learnings

Our Goals

Examination

Examination

The assessment takes place via a presentation and associated project documentation and is consists of three components:

1. Problem Portfolio / 20% of your final grade

Date: tbd 
A brief portfolio documenting how you analysed the selected industries and a statement about the chosen challenge.

2. Demo Day Presentation / 40% of your final grade

Date: 27.01.2027 
Presentation, pitch deck, final prototype account for 40% of your final grade.  

3. Experiment Log / 40% of your final grade

Date: 3.02.27
A documentation of hypotheses/opportunities mapped out and explored during the semester through experiments. (This will be created over the course of the seminars.)

 

All grades are recorded as individual grades. Please contact the study department if you do not want to participate in the performance recording(2-day rule).

Your Lecturers and Program Managers

You want to get more information?
Don't hesitate to contact us!

Anna Meshcheryakova

Program Manager

Email

Sarah Luna Mongin

Program Manager

Email

Hendrik Laflör

Program Lead Students & Scientists

Email
Services

Additional Services

FAQ

Frequently
asked questions

Requirements

Are the weekly lectures on Wednesdays during the program mandatory?
Do I have to be in Potsdam during the seminar?
Do I need to have my team members in advance?
I study Digital Health, which course do I select?
How do I come up with an idea?
Do I need to have my own business idea to participate in the Product Builder?

Program Structure

What is the expected outcome?

Data Rights

How do you handle confidentiality about information gained by me?
How do you deal with intellectual property?
Literature

Literature

Registration

Registration

Please use the registration form

Registration will open soon
Registration Requirements
Application Instruction
Selection Process
Note for external students
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