NIFK14026U Entrepreneurship and Innovation
MSc Programme in Agricultural Economics
A growing need for innovative solutions and start-ups has
shifted entrepreneurship and innovation management from a mere
business school agenda to career options and demanded competencies
across academic disciplines. This course is specifically designed
for non-business students who want to find out more about idea
development and start-up processes in new ventures. It is also
relevant for students who want to be better prepared for the
non-technical aspects of innovation processes in existing firms.
The course introduces students with little or no background in
business studies to theories and tools for entrepreneurship and
innovation management that can assist them in idea development and
realization. To combine the process with their “own world” students
will build venture teams and develop their own venture idea that
addresses a challenge connected to their fields of study. In
particular, students will be encouraged to pay attention to
unresolved problems and new opportunities in their academic
environments in order to find inspiration for the development of a
business idea. Business ideas are not limited to new products or
new for-profit ventures, but may include any type of innovation in
a new or existing for- or non-profit setting. The ideas will be
developed based on collaboration with relevant enterprises and
stakeholders, including student incubators and entrepreneurship
support organizations. However, although the course responsibles
will provide some contacts to stakeholders, students need to be
prepared to learn how to entrepreneurially take initiate to
identify and contact relevant stakeholders.
At the beginning of the course a team formation process will be
initiated. Based on their interests and competences, students will
join venture teams consisting of approximately 5 students. The
course itself will then include theory input and insights from
practitioners, but will have a strong focus on team project work
and feedback sessions. Theory sessions presented in online and
guest lectures will include an introduction to A) innovation
theories and innovation management tools that can be applied in new
ventures or existing organizations (creativity techniques,
innovation process models, design thinking, business modelling), B)
classic and new entrepreneurship theories (opportunity discovery
and creation), and C) a “two toolboxes” approach of “effectual”
tools (e.g. means-driven action, affordable loss, stakeholder
commitments, leveraging contingencies) and “causal” tools (e.g.
business plans) for developing a new venture. In project work
sessions students will need to work in their “venture teams” and
apply these theories and tools to develop venture ideas through
group work, in-class exercises, and interaction with real
stakeholder. The project work will be supplemented by regular
feedback sessions consisting of presentations, guest lectures, and
supervision hours.
An entrepreneurial mindset and the ability to manage and support
innovation processes under conditions of uncertainty and
distributed knowledge is essential to new venture creation, but has
also become a key competence in existing private and public sector
organizations. The purpose of the course is to provide non-business
students interested in developing their own ventures or in
entrepreneurial and innovation processes with a basic set of
theories and roadmaps of possible actions and tools they can use to
engage in new ventures or innovation teams. Moreover, the course is
in general designed to stimulate entrepreneurial and innovative
activities in- and outside university and in different business and
non-business future employment situations, including work in
cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional set-ups. The course aims
to create awareness for an entrepreneurial and innovative mindset
in the students’ specific area through a focus on the
interdisciplinary and team-based application of theories and tools
in the context of their own and their team members’ academic
experience. The final outcome is that students will be able to
build on the knowledge and teamwork experiences from the course
during their entrepreneurial career, and in further graduate
courses on specific topics within innovation, entrepreneurship, and
business development.
On completion of the course the student will be able to:
Knowledge:
- Show an overview of theories and concepts in entrepreneurship and innovation management, including entrepreneurial and innovation processes, design thinking, business modelling, and venture development
- Identify and describe the characteristics of entrepreneurs
- Classify different types of innovation (e.g. product, process, organizational) and degrees of innovation (radical, incremental)
- List and describe tools and approaches to new venture creation and innovation management
- List and describe creativity tools for innovation management
Skills:
- Explain entrepreneurial and innovation processes with cases in their fields of study
- Select and critically assess new venture development and innovation management tools for starting-up new business activities or managing innovation processes
- Communicate ideas to stakeholders including investors and other potential partners
- Use creativity and business development tools in team settings
Competences:
- Discuss the role of entrepreneurship and innovation management in a new or existing organization
- Apply the theoretical foundations and the approaches learned about in the course to engage in entrepreneurial activities in a new or existing private firm, a public organization or an NGO
- Develop an understanding of the role of design thinking, planning, control, stakeholders, goals, and resources in new venture creation
- Independently find and approach stakeholders necessary for the further development of ventures and ideas
- Evaluate the feasibility of different tools in the context of different industries and available means.
Osterwalder, A. and Pigneur Y. (2010) Business Model Generation. Wiley, New Jersey.
Selected articles
- Category
- Hours
- E-Learning
- 10
- Exam
- 2
- Guidance
- 4
- Lectures
- 30
- Practical exercises
- 24
- Preparation
- 20
- Project work
- 92
- Theory exercises
- 24
- Total
- 206
As
an exchange, guest and credit student - click here!
Continuing Education - click here!
- Credit
- 7,5 ECTS
- Type of assessment
- Oral examination, 20 minOral examination in a chosen question relating to curriculum and in the project.
Weight: 100% - Exam registration requirements
- Satisfactory completion of course tasks and presentation of project results in presentation sessions at the end of the course
- Aid
- Without aids
- Marking scale
- 7-point grading scale
- Censorship form
- External censorship
Criteria for exam assesment
See course learning outcome
Course information
- Language
- English
- Course code
- NIFK14026U
- Credit
- 7,5 ECTS
- Level
- Full Degree Master
- Duration
- 1 block
- Placement
- Block 1 And Block 4
- Schedule
- C (Mon 13-17 + Wednes 8-17)
- Course capacity
- 42
- Continuing and further education
- Study board
- Study Board of Food, Human Nutrition and Sports
Contracting department
- Department of Food and Resource Economics
Course responsibles
- Carsten Nico Portefée Hjortsø (3-6b767048716e7a7736737d366c73)
- Katharina Anna Pötz (3-73787748716e7a7736737d366c73)