Innovation Management and Business Development

• Innovation Management Research (10 ECTS)
• Appropriating Innovation, Managing Intellectual Property (5 ECTS)
• Classic Readings in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (5 ECTS)
• Innovation Challenge: Hands-on Project (10 ECTS)

• Business Development: Innovation and Strategy (10 ECTS)
• Financing Innovation and Entrepreneurship (5 ECTS)
• Entrepreneurship (5 ECTS)
• Managing Innovation (10 ECTS)

• Elective Courses (30 ECTS)

• Master's Thesis (30 ECTS)

PREREQUISITE COURSES

First semester

Management Research Method (10 ECTS)

This course focuses on the production of qualified and justified knowledge which meets the requirements of scientific quality criteria. This is a sine qua non issue for any candidate in business economics, who wishes to make decisions on an informed background. The course introduces a variety of research designs applicable when carrying out research in the area of organisation and management and related areas. In the first part of the course, focus will be on the philosophical issues pertaining to the creation of valid knowledge. In the second part of the course, focus will be on techniques in terms of data collection and analysis. These techniques include qualitative as well as quantitative approaches.

Readings in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (5 ECTS)

This course will train students in reading and understanding academic papers and case studies. Students will gain improved ability to read, question, and form conclusions from research-based literature and cases. Students will gain an overview of the central classic and contemporary literature in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship and the ability to critically evaluate and choose relevant literature in this field. The course is the foundation for understanding innovation and entrepreneurship research. As such, it serves to provide theoretical support for hands-on courses and students develop the skills to understand the more theoretically focused courses.

Innovation Challenge (10 ECTS)

This course aims to give students experience working with real life innovation challenges formulated by participating companies and organisations. By completing this course, students will have obtained a thorough understanding of the central phases of the innovative process and their challenges. As students will work with real life development challenges presented by participating companies, the course will give them an understanding of the work, conditions and constraints of innovative projects. Since students will carry out the work in four-five member groups, they will also improve their cooperation skills. The course will move beyond theory and use it hands-on in the art of innovation, by tackling innovation challenges from start to finish and gain an in-depth understanding of the principles of the innovative process. Students will learn to empathise with customers, synthesise learning, and rapidly prototype and test new ideas through a series of hands-on exercises.

Financing Innovation and Entrepreneurship (5 ECTS)

The aim of this course is to enable students to understand and perform the crucial tasks of planning and acquiring financing for innovative and entrepreneurial projects, products and/or services. Students are introduced to a wide range of financial tools often used in entrepreneurial and innovative projects, whether organised within an existing organisation or by way of establishing a new organisation/start-up. By completing this course, students should have obtained a thorough understanding of multiple ways of financing innovative and entrepreneurial projects and their underlying requirements. Students will work with concrete cases throughout the course. This way, the course will provide a hands-on understanding of specific trade-offs in using various financial means and strategies; from bootstrapping to crowdfunding, to different types of debt and equity. The trade-offs relate to availability, risks, costs, benefits and dependencies associated with financial alternatives.

SPECIALISATION COURSES

Second Semester

Managing Innovation (10 ECTS)

This course will give students an understanding of the fundamentals of managing creativity and innovation at individual, team and firm level. Students will acquire knowledge about central concepts of innovation and of how to manage innovation in terms of organisational structures, competences, and processes of innovation. The course focuses on the organisational activities of innovation, how to organise them effectively, and how to overcome the challenges of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and complex problem solving. Emphasis is placed on learning, applying and adapting various frameworks designed to capture, understand, and explain the nature of innovation and its management.

Business Development, Innovation and Strategy (10 ECTS)

This course will give students an understanding of business development, innovation and strategy from a technological and industrial perspective. The course focuses on identifying new business opportunities resulting in new firms (entrepreneurs) or innovations within established firms. Central concepts are organisations and networks, communities, university-industry collaborations, users as entrepreneurs, firm boundaries, and how organisations evolve and change over time. These concepts highlight how entrepreneurs and existing organisations source and internalise new ideas and knowledge from external partners, networks and ecosystems. This builds closely on the course ‘Managing Innovation’ and progressively continues to enhance students’ knowledge of how entrepreneurs and firms can organise in terms of innovation and business development.

Appropriating Innovation – Managing Intellectual Property (5 ECTS)

The aim of this course is to provide students with the essential, minimum knowledge of patents, copyright, trademarks and trade secrecy to survive and prosper in business. What are patents, copyright and trademarks, and why do firms want them? Do you need to obtain a patent, trademark or copyright to succeed in business? What do you need to know if you enter a business where other firms own these legal rights? Does your business have abilities that you want to keep secret from rivals? If you protect your secrets in certain ways then ‘trade secrecy’ law allows you to act against thieves and spies. The value of many firms is protected by the valuable patents, copyright and trademarks that they own. Knowledge of how these rights are obtained, enforced and overturned allows you to assess your rivals’ weaknesses and provides you with possible strategies to enter their profitable businesses.

Entrepreneurship Theory - Strategies of New Venture Creation and Growth (5 ECTS)

The objective of this course is to provide students with a broad understanding of the theories that make up the field of entrepreneurship research. In order to do so, the course introduces both the history of entrepreneurship research and the latest theory developments. The course will provide the students with an understanding of the role of entrepreneurship in the economy, the entrepreneur(ial team), and the entrepreneurial process in particular with regards to the role of opportunities, resources, networks and context. The course will be a mix of lectures, short problem-based cases, and in-class exercises and discussions. The format will enable students to identify relevant theoretical insights and apply them to actual entrepreneurial practices. Furthermore, the student will be able to reflect critically on the different theoretical perspectives presented in the course.

In the third semester, you can choose elective courses within your areas of interest. The courses can be taken either at Aarhus BSS during the semester, at the AU Summer University or at one of our more than 200 partner universities abroad. You can also participate in internship programmes either in Denmark or abroad.

The fourth semester is devoted to the Master's thesis. You may freely choose the topic of the thesis and thereby get a chance to concentrate on and specialise in a specific field of interest. The thesis may be written in collaboration with another student or it may be the result of your individual effort. When the thesis has been submitted, it is defended before the academic advisor as well as an external examiner.