Innovation and Project Management

Aim

Knowledge and understanding After completion of the course, the student should on an advanced level be able to synthesize knowledge gained through reading, discussions, experiences and cases, and express it orally and in writing.

Skills and abilities After conplition of the course, the student should on an advanced level be able to

• Analyze complex situations, identify patterns and problems in order to propose solutions in the field of innovation and project management
• Reflect on the outcomes of different choices on the basis of the theoretical perspectives in the field.

Values and attitudes After complition of the course, the student should have developed a critical and reflective attitude towards what they read and experience within the field of innovation and project management.

Content

This course takes its point of departure in the knowledge-based theory of the firm to suggest that the ability of firms to integrate the knowledge of various specialists is vital for innovative and new product development activities to be successful. From such a point of departure research on knowledge integration in and between development projects are discussed. Further, the particular challenges of project-based organizations, which are commonly used to organize innovative and new product development activities, are discussed. So far, the focus has been on innovation and new product development which takes place within the boundaries of a single firm. In the last part of the course we focus on radical innovation and dynamics of innovation to take a more critical approach to the possibilities of managing innovation and acknowledge the fact that some of the most radical innovations have not been generated in carefully managed projects where specialists have integrated their knowledge.