NIFK14026U Entrepreneurship and Innovation
MSc Programme in Food Innovation and Health
MSc Programme in Agricultural Economics
MSc Programme in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics
MSc Programme in Human Nutrition
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 teachers will
provide some contacts to stakeholders, students will have to be
pro-active and take initiative to identify and contact relevant
stakeholders themselves.
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 business planning
- Describe the characteristics of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship
- Classify different types of innovation (e.g. product, process, organizational) and degrees of innovation (radical, incremental)
- List and describe creativity and business development tools
Skills:
- Work with entrepreneurship and innovation processes in relation to their fields of study
- Communicate ideas to stakeholders including team members, investors, customers, and other potential partners
- Give and receive feedback for idea development
- Use creativity and business development tools in team settings
Competences:
- Apply the theoretical foundations and the approaches learned in the course to engage in entrepreneurial activities in new or existing private firm, public organizations (including universities), or NGOs
- Understand the role of design thinking, planning, control, stakeholders, goals, and resources in entrepreneurship and innovation processes
- Independently identify and approach stakeholders necessary for the realization of business ideas
- Manage creativity and business idea development processes in interdisciplinary settings
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 relating a selected entrepreneurship and innovation topic to the curriculum and the course project
Weight: 100% - Exam registration requirements
Satisfactory completion of course tasks including: a) submission of team charter, b) intermediary presentations during the course, c) submission and approval of final report by external censor, d) final presentation of project results at the end of the course
- Aid
- Without aids
- Marking scale
- 7-point grading scale
- Censorship form
- External censorship
- Re-exam
If the student has not handed in the project report, then it must be handed in individually instead of in a group two weeks prior to the deadline of registration for the re-exam. It must be approved before the exam.
If the student has not made an oral presentation during the course, the student will be examined on the basis of the course syllabus and the content of the project.
Criteria for exam assesment
Students' ability to display gained knowledge, skills, and competences (see learning outcomes) with particular emphasis on students' ability to relate theories and concepts in the curriculum to the course project work
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
- 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
- Marcel Bogers (6-736778696b72466f6c787534717b346a71)
- Karin Beukel (3-6e6465436c697572316e7831676e)
Lecturers
Nina Riis