Innovation in the Public Sector

ENT5005

Innovation in the public sector can contribute to solving societal challenges such as an aging population, plastic pollution, and the integration of immigrants. The goal of the course is to provide the student with updated knowledge of innovation processes in the public sector aiming at managing different types of societal challenges.

The course draws on national and international research on innovation in the public sector. The student will explore factors that stimulate innovation processes and build up innovation-friendly culture in the public sector. In addition, the student will get insight into the role that innovation champions play in innovative processes in public sector organizations, features that characterize public sector innovation, types of public sector innovation, and the phenomenon of co-creation in the public sector.

Must fulfill the requirements for admission to the two-year Master of Science in Business programme.

Upon course completion, the student should have:

Knowledge:

Knowledge about frameworks and theories that can be used to explore innovation processes in the public sector.
Knowledge about challenges that change agents and other actors in the public sector may meet in innovation processes.
Knowledge about strategies that can facilitate innovation processes in the public sector.
Knowledge of the role that public sector innovation plays in the society.

Skills:

The ability to explore innovation processes in the public sector and to support public sector organizations innovation implementation projects.
The ability to use and combine theoretical frameworks to examine innovation processes in the public sector.
The ability to identify, assess, and express his/her opinion about the challenges that change agents and other actors in the public sector may meet in innovation processes.

General competence

Increased awareness of different ways the student can contribute to an innovation process in the public sector.
Exercise in analyzing practical issues related to public sector innovation processes.
Be able to convey analysis and results from own case.

Apart from the semester registration fee and syllabus literature, it is expected that the student has a laptop.

Elective

Compulsory attendance.

Lectures where the student will get an introduction to national and international research on innovation in the public sector and get presented real innovation processes from public employees working with innovations. The student will work in a group to analyse a real innovation process in the public sector. The work will be presented orally.

The study program is evaluated annually by the students through student evaluations. The evaluation is part of the university's quality assurance system.