Abstract:

The purpose of this article is to describe experiences of creating a culture of cooperation across the field of study at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL), initially at the Bergen campus. The aim is to facilitate increased quality and innovation within the four community assignments in the education sector:
(1) teaching,
(2) researching,
(3) developing/development work and
(4) disseminating.

We had a special focus on innovation in development work in the subject Technology Management, Economics and Innovation (ING101).

In this pilot project in the autumn of 2017, more than 100 engineering students at bachelor level, 3rd or 5th semester, have completed the compulsory subject ING101 in addition to approx. 30 3rd grade (5 semester) nursing students who attended the first 6 weeks of the course. The students worked in groups and developed a business idea where theory is been used in practice. Previously, the students were able to choose a problem of their own for further processing, while for the current semester, in addition to industry challenges, challenges in the health sector have raised the issue of overdose and cervical problems through initial quality lectures. Problems are relevant for students in both health and engineering.

Including real issues show results. First, we see that the suggested solutions (eg product or service) to the problems are been influenced by the fact that there are a mix of engineers and nursing students in the groups, among other things through promising digital technology solutions. Secondly, very positive feedback from the external panel on the Entrepreneur day.

These findings have important implications for further development of the subject ING101 and other innovation subjects.

Keywords:

Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Experiential Learning, Interdisciplinary Teamwork.