Innovation Processes and Entrepreneurship

Head of Section: Sara Grex.

Our projects are interdisciplinary and navigate across complex innovation systems where a human-centered and technology-oriented mindset is necessary to tackle wicked societal challenges.

With a focus on human-centered design, we explore methodologies for designing and facilitating innovation processes by incorporating the principles of participatory design and user involvement and we aim to develop frameworks that guide innovation processes towards meaningful and user-centric outcomes.

Central to our work is a commitment to foster collaboration across disciplines and ecosystems. We engage in projects that bring together diverse actors and competences, particularly in areas such as healthcare and manufacturing industry. By co-creating with a multitude of stakeholders, we aim to enable innovation through a holistic understanding of complex challenges, ensuring that our research and solutions  promote the dialogue for the development and implementation of innovation processes, technologies and tools together.

Teaching and Learning in Innovation and Entrepreneurship is central to our mission, and we delve into effective methods of teaching and learning in the realms of innovation and entrepreneurship. Through pedagogical exploration and the development of innovative learning tools, we strive to equip individuals with the competences necessary for navigating and acting in corporate and entrepreneurial innovation processes.

Research themes

• Value creation in innovation collaborations
• Design and facilitation of innovation processes
• Teaching and learning in innovation and entrepreneurship
• Corporate innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems
• Product development through emphasis on agility, innovation, user-centricity, and continuous improvement
• AI in innovation processes

Strategy focus and main questions 2023-25

• How to support, facilitate and empower innovation in complex innovation ecosystems (e.g., the healthcare ecosystem) that have a high impact on societal challenges?
• How are AI technologies used in innovation processes and problem solving? What is the role, impact, and ethical considerations?
• How to understand value creation in collaboration between students, faculty and surroundings like companies, startups, and public entities?
• Develop methods where students are actively involved in data collection on research projects.
  

Collaboration

SME’s and companies from Innovation Pilot and Kom Løft project, Hospitals and healthcare ecosystem, startups, other research groups, other universities.