Institute for Innovation Management

• From startup to growth: we work with firms of all sizes. At the Sten K Johnson Centre for Entrepreneurship we do research on a range of issues that small firms and startups are concerned with, such as growth, funding and ownership, investment, external relations, and rapid product development.
• Strategic thinking for innovation: what models can we use to grasp future scenarios and processes in society and in our markets to be able to act before our competitors do?
• Strategic response: being able to swiftly set new business ideas and build up capabilities when opportunities arise is a central matter for most firms. Investment decisions is a key factor in this situation.
• Business model innovation: irrespective of whether you’re seeking to mitigate risk or aiming for first-mover advantages, you most likely need to consider changing all components of your business model. How can we do that in a coordinated manner?
• Organising for innovation: innovative companies typically also need to manage structure, cost and efficiency, even if we sometimes forget these things. But balancing an innovative environment is easier said than done and that’s where agility and being able to respond swiftly while keeping things under control becomes important. 
• Sustainable growth: in a world where the demand for sustainable alternatives is increasing, how can we rethink our own business models when it comes to tech shifts, changes to customer preferences and strategic change?
• Digitalisation and the customers of the future: new generations of consumers use new technologies when they learn about and decide to buy, and for traditional firms this constitutes a potentially disrupting challenge as traditional and proven channels need be contested and replaced.
• Technology transition: how do we understand how technological developments will impact our industry, and what we can do to benefit from it or even drive development?
• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: in most industries these technological advancements are already household concepts that cannot be ignored anymore. How can we adjust to take advantage of these advancements? What can we learn from other firms and industries?
• Immigrant and refugee entrepreneurship is a growing focus area for our research, not least as institutional forces in society drive the will and capacity of immigrants to become entrepreneurs. We investigate best practices and interesting cases where entrepreneurs resolve social issues.
• Social entrepreneurship: we have several projects connected with the role of entrepreneurship in resolving pressing social needs in society such as inclusion and resource and service access as well as hands on issues like means of payment.

These are but a few examples of the questions we work with in different ways and formats with our partners.