Responsible Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MEN260)
The course adresses the ways in which innovation and entrepreneurship can contribute to sustainability and social justice, and how the understanding of what is sustainable and just can change over time and with the situation. The course is rooted in a processual understanding of reality. Central questiona are: How can we understand and analyze emerging situations where existing solutions do not address the challenge? How can we act when the problem seems unclear and difficult to delineate, and where there are several, conflicting understandings of the problem? How can we creatively explore possible solutions in dynamically developing situations? Developing agency in order to explore, imagine and act upon emerging challenges is emphasized over learning prescribed solutions.
Course description for study year 2023-2024. Please note that changes may occur.
Course code
MEN260
Version
1
Credits (ECTS)
10
Semester tution start
Autumn
Number of semesters
1
Exam semester
Autumn
Language of instruction
English
Content
The course will consist of sessions of lectures, workshops and groupwork where students will work on real issues. Active participation in the sessions is required in order to benefit from the course and is the basis for the portfolio assignment.
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.
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
| Form of assessment | Weight | Duration | Marks | Aid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Folder evaluation | 1/1 | Letter grades |
The exam consists of a portfolio with three tasks. The work with the portfolio will be conducted throughout the course and in the exam period.The portfolio will consist of two group tasks, making up 20 % each of the full grade. The third, individual task will make up 60 % of the full grade.Should the folder not be assessed to a passing grade it will have to be revised and submitted when the course is taught again. In cases with documented absence the student may apply for an extension corresponding to the length of the absence.