Entrepreneurship Unit Annual report 2018 2 CONTACT Entrepreneurship Turku School of Economics, University of Turku Visiting address: Rehtorinpellonkatu 3 20500 Turku, Finland Postal address: Turku School of Economics FI-20014 Turun yliopisto Research Director Ulla Hytti Tel. +358 40 540 9112, e-mail: [email protected] Professor Jarna Heinonen Tel. +358 50 5631713, e-mail: [email protected] Professor Anne Kovalainen Tel. +358 50 502 7022, e-mail: [email protected] HR Specialist Sanna Hirvola Tel. +358 29 450 3861, e-mail: [email protected] www.utu.fi/entrepreneurship CONTENTS “SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW” .................................................................. 4 RESEARCH WITH IMPACT ....................................................................................... 6 Highlights from our research projects in 2018 ........................................................ 7 International research and teaching cooperation ................................................. 12 INSPIRING LEARNING EXPERIENCES ................................................................. 16 Entrepreneurship studies ..................................................................................... 17 PhD studies .......................................................................................................... 19 Other entrepreneurship education activities ......................................................... 22 INTERACTION WITH SOCIETY .............................................................................. 23 Blogs and social media ........................................................................................ 25 APPENDICES .......................................................................................................... 26 3 Active year in international research Top year of dissertations – three new 12 and teaching cooperation 20 doctors in Entrepreneurship! Faculty of the Entrepreneurship unit in 2016. Photo by Studio Liikkuva. 4 “SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW” Interdisciplinary collaboration is an important feature in research at the Turku School of Economics. Entrepreneurship is no exception to the rule but to the contrary. The majority of our research projects are carried out in interdisciplinary collaboration. In 2018, we continued our research focusing on developing new understanding of entrepreneurship and the new working modes in the digitalized economy. In particular the SWIPE research project focuses on producing new knowledge the shifts between paid work, self-employment, gig work and entrepreneurship and platform work (see more p. 8). In the ACE project the focus is on understanding better the role of entrepreneurship at universities and in particularly from within the university (see more on p. 7) Additionally, a new project was launched to investigate the young people’s paths to entrepreneurship in rural areas (p. 10). Our second focus area deals with entrepreneurial behavior and business growth where the unit has been co-operating in the Design for Value project to develop new understanding of business disruptions (p. 7), for example. Furthermore, entrepreneurship unit takes also part in the Nordic Centre of Excellence ‘NordAqua’ focusing on bioresources where our role is encouraging and researching research commercialization. Since research takes time and all the fruit cannot be reaped within the project period, we can also proudly demonstrate outcomes from previous interdisciplinary collaborations. The book “Women in Business Families: from past to present” (p. 11) is the result from a joint research project between Finnish history and entrepreneurship units at the University of Turku funded by Academy of Finland in 2011-2016. Thus, we can safely say that entrepreneurship unit is well connected with the other faculties at the University of Turku, from Humanities to Science and Engineering and beyond. A major effort during the Spring 2018 involved co-ordinating a research proposal for the Horizon 2020 call. Another effort took place in July when we were invited into the grant agreement preparation process by the Commission. Interrupting a summer holiday is not always fun but this time it paid off since during the Autumn we received the confirmation that our interdisciplinary DISCE research project “Developing Inclusive & Sustainable Creative Economies” had been awarded funding for years 2019-2021. Besides the University of Turku the project includes three research partners (King’s College London from the UK, Gran Sasso Science Institute from Italy, SSE Riga from Latvia) and two stakeholder partners (CUMEDIAE and Trans Europe Halles). You can follow the project on Internet https://disce.eu/ and on social media @DISCE_EU. Internationalisation is as important to us as it is to the Turku School of Economics. Professor Anne Kovalainen and Senior Research Fellow Seppo Poutanen visited the renowned Harvard University during the Autumn term 2018 and you can learn about their experience from p. 13. The whole entrepreneurship unit visited Riga in May 2018 to intensify our own research but also research collaboration with the RISEBA University in Riga (p. 14). It goes without saying that scholars from various parts of the world visited us and our researchers visited other universities during the year. The international co-operation is not limited to research but covers also teaching for example in PhD courses (p. 22). Year 2018 was also an important landmark in our doctoral studies. Out of the record number of 21 PhD degrees taken at the Turku School of Economics in 2018 three PhDs were completed in entrepreneurship. Read more on their dissertations from p. 20. We are also proud to state that the number of study credits (ECTS) completed in entrepreneurship is increasing with a total of 3209 ECTS taken in 2018. This is linked to the increasing interest within the Turku School of Economics but also to the 5 growing demand and interest from the other faculties at the University in line with the idea of the ‘Entrepreneurial University’. The entrepreneurship unit is actively contributing to the strategic goals of the Entrepreneurial University on various fronts. Our teachers are actively developing their teaching competences for example by taking part and completing the university pedagogical studies (p. 18). We were also happy to learn that the student association for management and entrepreneurship Visio (formerly known as Systeemi) was reborn in 2018. This means that in the future we can collaborate even further with the students as our collaboration partners include both the student entrepreneurship society BoostTurku and the Visio. In line with the Entrepreneurial University, our activities have an outreach to the society. We co-operate with businesses and teach in the TSE eMBA programme. We work with regional, national and international policymakers and organisations. Our researchers are also active in social media in order to inform the general public of our research. We are always interested in further collaboration with academic, business and other partners so do not hesitate to be in touch with us should you have an idea! Ulla Hytti Research Director Director of the Entrepreneurship Unit RESEARCH WITH Employs 17 entrepreneurship professionals IMPACT Research on entrepreneurship and new working modes Entrepreneurship is one of the areas of strength at the Turku School of nine Economics. Research activities at the Entrepreneurship Unit focus on two themes in particular: entrepreneurship and new working modes in the competitively funded digitalized economy; and, entrepreneurial behaviour and business growth. research projects These two main fields are connected through theoretical approaches in entrepreneurship and sociology, research methodology, science and technology studies, governance, and empirical studies. Research encompasses the processes of entrepreneurship and innovation as well as entrepreneurial behaviour from the point of view of business creation, growth, 12 peer-reviewed internationalisation, and renewal in different contexts in both private and public sector organisations. The Entrepreneurship research group consists of about journal articles twenty researchers with varied scientific backgrounds. Multidisciplinary scholarly excellence and international cooperation 15 presentations We work internationally and emphasise scholarly excellence and policy relevance based on solid scientific knowledge particularly in entrepreneurship. in thirteen 6 The cornerstones of our entrepreneurship research are well-established international conferences multidisciplinary research groups, high-profile international research initiatives and networks such the European Council for Small Business (ECSB), a strong track record in competitive research funding as well as close cooperation with policy-makers. Several Other 4% international Other Ministries 3% visitors Business Finland 4% Ministry of Education and MAIN SOURCES OF Culture 40% 1,15 million € in funding FINANCE IN 2018 Academy of Finland 49% JUFO publications 2011–2018 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 JUFO 1 9 1 3 5 9 9 6 10 JUFO 2 6 3 1 5 6 6 4 1 JUFO 3 0 0 0 3 1 8 1 0 Picture by Studio Liikkuva. Highlights from our research projects in 2018 Academic Entrepreneurship as a social process (ACE) The Academic Entrepreneurship as a social process (ACE) research project funded by the Academy of Finland continued successfully in 2018. The project team had successful research meetings at Villa Tammekann in Tarto, Estonia