Innovation and society
7.5 credits
The course is offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences as an interdisciplinary single–subject course at the doctoral studies level. The language of instruction is English.
About the course
Course period:
10 June - 14 June
Application deadline: 25 May 2024
Overview of the course
This course identifies and goes beyond the rhetoric of innovation as entrepreneurship and the solving of technical problems, to investigate what innovation is beyond the firm and how innovation impacts society – and vice versa. The course provides a critical introduction to innovation as a process and as a strategy used by private as well as public sector organizations to achieve their goals. The course emphasizes the intended and unintended impacts of innovation on societies, by analyzing the social and geographical distribution of innovation’s consequences, potential conflicts between goals, and the challenges and opportunities for governance. The course uses a multi-level approach to innovation, linking macro level processes, institutions and technological advancement to local practices, outcomes and experiences at actor-level. The course invites doctoral students to engage with their own field of research within the course’s framework, regardless of their disciplinary background.
Preliminary Schedule:
| Monday 10 | Tuesday 11 | Wednesday12 | Thursday 13 | Friday 14 | |
| 9-12 | Introductions, Teacher Panel and Conceptual Clarity: Innovation 101
| Theme 2: Geography of Innovation and Uneven Development
| Theme 4: Innovation Governance
| Theme 6: Workplace Innovation
| Outlook and Student Panel |
| 12-1330 | Lunch break | Lunch break | Lunch break | Lunch break | |
| 1330-1630 | Theme 1: Public Sector Innovation
| Theme 3: Technologies and Work
| Theme 5: Justice and Sustainability Transitions in the Global South
| Time to prepare Student panels |
Course information
Course coordinators
Josephine Rekers
Course administrator
Marjaana Kinnunen
Documents
The documents below open in a new tab.
Course syllabus (PDF)
Links
Map to lecture halls