The doctoral program Entrepreneurship and Innovativeness adopts giraffes as its brand because of its features very relevant to entrepreneurship competences:

• The giraffe is the tallest terrestrial animal, so it has the best overview of opportunities and dangers.
• The giraffe usually sleeps with one eye open and its ears remain alert: always be alert to changes.
• The giraffe’s height is a disadvantage when it comes to drinking water: they have to spread their front legs and are then vulnerable to predators. Often, one giraffe stands to keeps watch while the others drink—a show of teamwork.
• The giraffe has a relatively small heart, but with a very strong beat to pump blood over the body: a strong heart, or passion, is important for any venture. And that was the case when we started with researching entrepreneurship competences and launched first educational entrepreneurship programs in a remote, war-torn region without money, but with great passion.

World Giraffe Day is an annual event initiated by Giraffe Conservation Foundation to celebrate the tallest animal on the longest day (or night, depending on in which hemisphere you live!) of the year – 21 June, and it is a good reason to keep it as the day to celebrate our international interdisciplinary inter-university doctoral study ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATIVENESS.
For more information on giraffes, check the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF)
https://giraffeconservation.org/
and especially
https://giraffeconservation.org/facts-about-giraffe/

We expect from our doctoral students to be symbolic “giraffes”, looking forward and further in searching for issues to be solved, being always alert on changes and show empathy for working together.