NIFK21004U TRANSFORM – Innovation & Entrepreneurship for Sustainability

Volume 2021/2022
Content

TRANSFORM is a collaborative 4EU+ course on innovation and (social) entrepreneurship for sustainable development. It will be offered by a team of lecturers across the Universities of Heidelberg, Warsaw, Sorbonne, Copenhagen, and Mannheim. The course will introduce the concepts of: open and frugal innovation, strategic thinking for social problem solving, scaling sustainable solutions, and measuring societal impact. TRANSFORM offers students a unique opportunity for intercultural exchange, critical thinking and pro-active learning.

The course consists of four modules (innovation, strategy, scaling, and impact). Throughout the semester students will team up in groups across universities to create service, product or process innovations that address a sustainability challenge (course project). After an introduction of the key concepts, students analyze and examine how these concepts can be applied to their course projects. Therefore, the course does not only provide a strong theoretical foundation, but also allows students to gain valuable insights into the concrete application of concepts through a hands-on and practical approach. Lecturers from the participating universities conduct classes in their respective areas of expertise and jointly mentor student teams.

The course is suitable for advanced BA and MA students. Grading will be differentiated according to the students’ study level. The course demands a high degree of pro-activity.

We will only be able to accept up to 15 students for the course. In case registrations exceed this number, we will have to select students based on a short statement of application, which we will then request.

Learning Outcome

Praxis-oriented:

  • Participants will gain a thorough understanding of how to create, manage and grow an impact-oriented organization, how to measure its impact and develop and maintain an impact orientation.
  • A high practitioner orientation is ensured in particular through including contents from MOOCs, case studies and other material
  • Participants will learn about currently much discussed phenomena of impact orientation and sustainability. They will get insights from current research projects on the phenomenon.

 

Theoretical and conceptual:

  • Participants will develop thorough knowledge of theoretical and conceptual ideas related to sustainable organizations (e.g. frugal innovation, sustainable business models, scaling and diffusion, impact measurement) and their role in society.
  • They will be able to navigate in a „fuzzy“ field of sustainability (rather than focusing on selected clear-cut definitions).
  • Strengthen ability to analyse and critically discuss topics around sustainable entrepreneurship
open to all interested in innovation and entrepreneurship and keen to work intercultural and interdisciplinary
The course builds on the previously established “Accelerating Investment Readiness” MOOC (#AirMOOC, see https:/​/​youtu.be/​yPUVuh_uFgg), but extends its contents significantly. It takes place online with students from all universities. The sessions alternate between content and application, allowing students to work on their projects regularly. At the end of the semester students present their results and write an assignment. The best student outputs will be featured on the public online platform the team of lecturers will build for the contents to be used by other university educators globally. The platform will also provide all contents to students.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 20
  • Preparation
  • 126
  • E-Learning
  • 20
  • Study Groups
  • 40
  • Total
  • 206
Written
Oral
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment, 1 week
Oral examination, 30 - 40 minutes
The exam consists of three parts:
1) a written assigment (50%)
2) an oral presentation (30%)
3) active participation (20%)

Students can pass the exam without passing all part-exams if the total grade is ‘Pass’
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
one internal examiner
Re-exam

1) a written assigment (50%)
2) an oral presentation (50%)

Criteria for exam assesment

In order to obtain the grade 12 the student should convincingly and accurately demonstrate  the knowledge, skills and competences described under Learning Outcome