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Project, Innovations and Entrepreneurship (PIE)

The Project, Innovations and Entrepreneurship (PIE) division conducts research, undergraduate education and commissioned activities in project management, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Our main subject areas

Industrial project management, which involves the planning and management of technology and innovation activities in project-based organisations.

Innovation, which examines industrial development and renewal, innovation systems and inter-organisational collaboration, technology and innovation strategies and innovation management in both large and small companies and organisations.

Entrepreneurship, business and regional development, focuses on entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial processes in start-up teams, new and established businesses, entrepreneurial ecosystems and collaboration for regional development.

Pedagogical development and methods of learning, which involves the study of experience-based, entrepreneurial and challenge-driven learning in different contexts.
Industrial organisation and leadership are recurring themes in both teaching and research in all of these areas.

Target areas

Target areas

PIE has three target areas, all of which are in line with the University's ongoing strategy work.

Learning and knowledge creation

Our teaching meets current societal challenges, and our courses are constantly evolving. We stimulate creativity and reflection in our students through innovative teaching.

Our research is of a high international standard and is published in various well-reputed scientific forums.

At PIE, we invest in our co-workers, who are offered regular opportunities for career development.

Collaboration across boundaries

PIE develops interdisciplinary and cross-boundary cooperation. We are an important competency resource and a knowledge hub in all parts of society: in business, the public sector, and civil society and its organisations.

Our research projects leverage synergies between research, undergraduate education and collaboration.

Sustainable societal transformation

By combining inter- and multidisciplinary perspectives in research and education, we contribute new knowledge and innovation that meets the challenges of society.

Social transformation and a sustainability perspective are two important issues that we are committed to integrating into our work, and in this we see digitalisation as an important tool.

Undergraduate education

Our teaching covers the areas of industrial organisation, leadership, innovation management, project management, entrepreneurship and idea development.

Our courses are student-centred, where the teacher's task is to create a good and inspiring study environment with learning outcomes at the heart of the course.

In our learning processes we combine personal development with research-based analyses and studies of and at companies. Our pedagogy is based on active learning, and we use both our own and others' case studies in our courses. In several courses, we also use an educational method called case-based learning (CBL) that involves experience and theory-based exercises, where students apply the knowledge they have acquired. Our pedagogical approach requires that our students take great responsibility for their own learning and that of others by seeing themselves as co-creators of the knowledge that is generated.

Our degree projects, that rest on a theoretical/scientific basis, are often carried out in cooperation with industrial companies and public organisations. There is also an opportunity to do a so-called "entrepreneurial degree project" for those who have or want to start their own business.


PIE Summer Academy

PIE gives courses both distance courses and at campus. The one at distance are very popular and you can participate on your terms, at your location.

PIE offer two summer courses at Campus Valla in Linköping. They are given in English and has a special target group. Read more about Linköping University Summer Academy.

PhD student

What PhD courses does PIE offer?

Entrepreneurship in theory and practice (7.5 credits)

Academic entrepreneurship is growing fast, and during the course a basic understanding of entrepreneurship processes and how researchers can realise ideas for companies and projects is gained.

Sustainable change, business and strategy (7.5 credits)

Research studying changes in socio-technical systems is growing fast. The course studies sustainable business models, and critical perspectives on business and sustainability are discussed. For more information, contact Thomas Magnusson.

Innovation management (10 credits)

Innovation can be studied in different ways, but the aim of this course is to give doctoral students an understanding of complex innovation management issues.

Innovation and entrepreneurship classics (12 credits)

A selection of classics in the research areas of innovation and entrepreneurship, including Burns and Stalker, Penrose, and Schumpeter, are discussed and analysed in the course.

Embrace your doctoral and post-doctoral studies (1.5 credits)

Research work and knowledge processes are characterised to a large extent by uncertainty and ambiguity, and this course provides an understanding of how this type of work can be organised, managed and planned in order to create good conditions for coping with doctoral and post-doctoral projects.

Qualitative research methods in theory and practice (6 credits) 

This course provides a basic understanding of a selection of commonly used qualitative approaches and methods (concerning study design, data collection and analysis) in organisational and management research, such as case studies, ethnography and action-oriented research.

 

You will receive more information about what PIE has to offer doctoral students when you have started your studies.

Research

Project, Innovations and Entrepreneurship (PIE)

The division conducts research in in dustrial organisation and change and, in a broad sense, various management and organisational issues.

Our research is conducted at several levels from system and industry level to company and individual level. Our researchers are active in one or more of our research areas.

Our research is characterised by interdisciplinarity and cross-boundary cooperation with a wide range of national and international actors.

Our research is permeated by various aspects of sustainable industrial development.


Research areas

Innovation, socio-technical systems and sustainability

  • The different roles of companies in major socio-technical system changes
  • Strategy, innovation and market creation in transition processes
  • The dynamics of business transformation and digitalisation
  • Research ethics, responsible research and innovation

Innovation management andinter-organisational collaboration

  • Complex products, systems and organisations – particularly linked to increasingly intelligent systems
  • Decision-making in and between organisations
  • Organisation for hybrid data-driven and model-based methods and systems
  • AI, rationality and boundary objects in complex systems
  • Combination of generativity and criticality in complex system development
  • Responsible management and organisation – a wider responsibility for all actors

Innovation management andinter-organisational collaboration

  • Digital transformation, product development and innovation
  • Design theory – shaping the partly unknown
  • Boundary-spanning and knowledge integration in inter-organisational cooperations
  • Leadership practice and organisation of collaboration in value chains and ecosystems for innovation and knowledge exchange
  • The role of intermediaries in inter-organisational collaboration

Entrepreneurship and regional development

  • Entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial development processes in emerging companies and organisations
  • Entrepreneurial ecosystems and inter-organisational collaboration for regional development

Pedagogical development and methods oflearning

  • Entrepreneurial and challenge-driven learning in different contexts
  • Experience-based learning

Our research in brief

Our research is characterised by interdisciplinarity and cross-boundary cooperation with a wide range of national and international actors.

Our research is permeated by various aspects of sustainable industrial development.

Collaboration with industry and public sector organisations

The division's ambition is to support decision-making in industry, government agencies, and other organisations, such as incubators and industry associations. 

We collaborate with partners outside academia, both in research projects and in contract education. We also diffuse our research results through workshops, seminars and publications in both scientific and popular media.

Contract education

The division has a long history of managing contract education, especially in collaboration with the Centre of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) and the business network SMIL, where Entrepreneurship, Development and Management Programmes are offered with the purpose of stimulating development and growth in technology- and knowledge-intensive companies.

We collaborate with a range of different organisations. Throughout the years, we have participated in a number of collaborative education projects together with, e.g. Saab Automobile, Scania, FOI and several municipalities and regional councils.

News

Calender

11 April 2023

Collaborative Research Seminar Series: Meaningful research: on having something to say and reaching an audience when doing research

10.00 am – 12.00 pm ACAS, A Building, Campus Valla, Linköping

Contact us

Head of Division

Photo of Magnus Klofsten

Magnus Klofsten

Professor, Head of Division

Director of Studies

Photo of Dzamila Bienkowska

Dzamila Bienkowska

Associate professor, Docent

Director of Studies

Photo of Anna Yström

Anna Yström

Senior associate professor

General Information

Photo of Carina Ekhager

Carina Ekhager

Administrator

General Information

Photo of Madeleine Nyberg

Madeleine Nyberg

Administrator

Staff

Photo of Ehab Abu Sa'a

Ehab Abu Sa'a

PhD student

Photo of Martin Andreasson

Martin Andreasson

PhD student

Photo of Appu Balachandran

Appu Balachandran

PhD student

Photo of Christian Berggren

Christian Berggren

Professor emeritus

Photo of Dzamila Bienkowska

Dzamila Bienkowska

Associate professor, Docent

Photo of Stefan Cavalcante Bernat Junior

Stefan Cavalcante Bernat Junior

PhD student

Photo of Jeanette Engzell

Jeanette Engzell

Assistant professor

Photo of José Adalberto Franca

José Adalberto Franca
Photo of Mineta Galijasevic

Mineta Galijasevic
Photo of Eloïse Germain

Eloïse Germain
Photo of Gunnar Holmberg

Gunnar Holmberg

Adjunct Professor

Photo of Solmaz Filiz Karabag

Solmaz Filiz Karabag

Senior associate professor

Photo of Magnus Klofsten

Magnus Klofsten

Professor, Head of Division

Photo of Nicolette Lakemond

Nicolette Lakemond

Deputy Dean, Professor

Photo of Eva Lovén

Eva Lovén

Associate professor, Docent

Photo of Cia Lundvall

Cia Lundvall
Photo of Thomas Magnusson

Thomas Magnusson

Professor

Photo of Martin Mileros

Martin Mileros
Photo of Charlotte Norrman

Charlotte Norrman

Senior associate professor

Gouthanan Pushpananthan

Postdoc

Annika Rickne

Adjunct Professor

Photo of Jörgen Sandin

Jörgen Sandin

Lecturer

Yunchen Sun

Postdoc

Photo of Dag Swartling

Dag Swartling

Associate professor

Photo of Elinor Särner

Elinor Särner

PhD student

Photo of Bijona Troqe

Bijona Troqe

PhD student

Photo of Viktor Werner

Viktor Werner

PhD student

Photo of Karin Wigger

Karin Wigger

Assistant professor

Photo of Anna Yström

Anna Yström

Senior associate professor

Photo of Youshan Yu

Youshan Yu

PhD student

Address

Visiting Address

Division of Project, Innovations and Entrepreneurship
Hans Meijers väg
A Building, entrance 13-19
Campus Valla
Linköping, Sweden

Postal Address

Linköping University
Department of Management and Engineering
Division of Project, Innovations and Entrepreneurship
SE-581 83 Linköping
Sweden

Organisation

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