Responsible Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MEN260)

Content

The course provides a thorough introduction to how we can develop new solutions that are sustainable and responsible. Major societal changes will often have consequences for affected parties, and it can be difficult to predict how this may affect the parties. As managers and developers of new solutions in the private and public sector, you have a responsibility to strive that the solutions do not involve danger or negative consequences for those who are affected by them. Social innovation is about how we can develop solutions that benefit the community. It can for example be about how we manage common goods such as access to nature and how we develop good living conditions locally and globally.

Through practical case work, the student will work with real problems together with fellow students and lecturers. Insight into process perspectives on innovation and entrepreneurship, sustainability and social responsibility is given, and the understanding of these perspectives is integrated into the practical case work.

Examples of themes are:

• Processual perspectives on innovation and entrepreneurship
• Processual perspectives on sustainability and social justice
• How can we work with practical situations where both problems and solutions can be ambiguous and dynamically developing?

A minimum of 5 registered students will be required for the course to be offered during the semester in question. Depending on the course coordinator/lecturer, teachings may be in English.

Note that not all elective courses will be offered every year.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

• After completing the course, students are expected to possess good knowledge of how innovation and entrepreneurship can be understood as processual and relational phenomena and how social justice and sustainability is constantly setting new requirements for what can be understood as responsible innovations.
• Students are expected to acquire good knowledge about processual understandings and perspectives on sustainability and social justice, and that what is sustainable in an isolated setting is sometimes not sustainable in a larger perspective.
• Students will develop a processual understanding of reality and of how this understanding can be used to explore specific issues and solutions.

Skills:

• Students will be able to open and critically explore how different solutions can be understood as sustainable and just.
• They will be able to assess the potential aspects of sustainability and social justice that different innovations can bring about.
• They will be able to contribute to develop practical strategies for how small-, medium-, and large organizations can contribute to sustainability and social justice through their activities.
• They will be able to contribute to indentify and mobilize potential stakeholders and those affected of the situations in question.

General competence:

• The course will contribute to critical and reflexive thinking about the products, services and working methods that we develop, and what responsibility we have for the consequences of innovative solutions.
• Through the course, the students will develop relational and processual understanding of innovation and entrepreneurship and be able to use these to work with societal challenges for exploring potential solutions.

Required prerequisite knowledge

Exam

Course teacher(s)

Course coordinator:

Course teacher:

Method of work

Open for

Course assessment

Literature