Welcome to Management of Technology and Innovation (2021)


Description: Global, radical, open, hi-tech and business model are just a few of many buzz adjectives used in discussions of innovation for future growth. However, what is innovation? What is technology? How can we organize for and manage innovation successfully? And get beyond “traditional” approaches towards technology and innovation management. These and related questions are at the core of this course. 


The topics are:

  • Introduction to technology and innovation management
  • Innovation
    - Definitions, history, ‘schools’, areas
    - Types of innovation
    - Factors of success, failure and delay
    - Contingency factors in innovation studies
    - The process perspective
    - Innovation capabilities and absorptive capacity
  • The organization and management of innovation processes
    - Innovation roles
    - Team and organizational structures
  • Technology and innovation strategy
    - Manufacturing and R&D strategy, action plans and performance effects
    - (Open) foresight
  • Continuous innovation
    - Continuous innovation – what is it, why do we need it? 
    - Exploitation – exploration 
    - Strategic, innovation and operational excellence
    - Concepts helping companies to getting ever nearer continuous innovation capability: continuous improvement, concurrent engineering, agile manufacturing, mini-companies, lead factories …
  • Open innovation
    - What is open innovation?
    - Why opening up the innovation process?
    - Benefits of open innovation
    - Open innovation risks
    - Open … to whom?
    - Organizing for and managing open innovation
    - Open innovation in practice
  • Business model innovation
    - What is a business model?
    - What is business model innovation?
    - Business model innovation in practice
    - Decision-making under uncertainty
    - Risk and risk management


Organizer: Professor Dr. Harry Boer - hboer@business.aau.dk

Lecturers: Harry Boer, Yariv Taran, Astrid Heidemann Lassen

ECTS: 4.0

Time: 19-21 May 2021, From 09:00-16:30 (each day)

Place: ONLINE

Number of seats: 30

Deadline: 28 April 2021


Important information concerning PhD courses: We have over some time experienced problems with no-show for both project and general courses. It has now reached a point where we are forced to take action. Therefore, the Doctoral School has decided to introduce a no-show fee of DKK 3.000 for each course where the student does not show up. Cancellations are accepted no later than 2 weeks before start of the course. Registered illness is of course an acceptable reason for not showing up on those days. Furthermore, all courses open for registration approximately four months before start. This can hopefully also provide new students a chance to register for courses during the year. We look forward to your registrations.