Marte C.W. Solheim is a new Professor in Innovation Studies

Marte Cecilie Wilhelmsen Solheim is promoted to Professor in Innovation Studies at UiS Business School. Her research combines insights from organizational theory, innovation studies and economic geography.

Published 16. Jun. 2022. Updated on 18. Mar. 2025

Marte C. W. Solheim, professor. Her i T-skjorte med teksten # Diversity Drives Innovation — Marte C.W. Solheim is an engaged academic and communicator and an expert advisor on fostering innovation through diversity and inclusion

Marte C. W. Solheims research has primarily focused surrounding human resources and firm-level innovation, regional studies, and more recently on firm-level strategies and entrepreneurship.

Solheim has extensively studied various types of diversity and different forms of innovation, and the association between these. Her research combines insights from organizational theory, innovation studies and economic geography. She is particularly interested in understanding how innovation is inspired when a variety of diverse knowledge intersect, and the contextual factors affecting this association.

Solheim has studied the nexus between various forms of diversity and different types of innovation and has particularly focused on the role of foreign-born workers and innovation & export, experience-based and educational diversity and innovation, and diversity management.

She has lately been developing her research agenda on innovation, delving into firm-level strategies in times of crisis, spurred by engagement in several research projects investigating innovation during Covid-19. She has moreover also recently been investigating entrepreneurship, with a particular focus on immigrant entrepreneurship.

Active in the public debate

Marte C. W. Solheim
Fostering diversity and inclusion in the workplace is not only the right thing to do, but it’s the clever thing to do

Solheim is particularly involved in areas delving into understanding the underlying mechanisms of diversity, inclusion and belonging as to foster an innovative organization, and has been actively engaged in the public debate on migration, diversity and innovation-related issues in Norway and is invited to speak at national diversity conferences as well as to national policymakers, political spheres, and other institutions. Solheim was based on her engagement awarded the Competence sharing price 2021 from the Stavanger-region Chamber of Commerce.

She has written numerous Op-Eds to regional, national, and international media, and is a regular guest writer for Stavanger Aftenblad. She has appeared on national and local television, as well as written extensively for magazines and for online outlets. She has also written several pieces focusing on the importance of research dissemination, such as for the London School of Economics Impact Blog, Foskerforum and Khrono.

In addition to being a new professor at UiS Business School, she's also the Head of the Stavanger Centre for Innovation Research, an ambassador at the Regional Studies Association Norway, and a member of the Young Academy in Norway.