The aim of the program
This two-year master programme is based on companies need of employees with ability to initiate, lead and promote the creation of innovations. The program is taught in English.
In the students’ work with innovations, the student should balance the process in its various parts for design, function, sustainability and production conditions. This requires knowledge of, or interaction between, different disciplines where different approaches, perspectives and approaches are utilized. The program is based on common projects often in collaboration with industry and organizations along with advancement in design and a broadening towards other disciplines (business and technology). Experiences from projects discussed and put in relation to the student's professional skills. In separate courses studied scientific method used in the innovation process.
Students within business, engineering and design collaborate at Linnaeus University to develop products
During the autumn term, first-year students on the master programme Innovation through business, engineering and design work in groups with one company each to develop their own products.
Students speak
Ramona Hallgren studies on the design specialisation. Her group collaborates with the company CumVex, specialising in office furniture. Since CumVex is based in Växjö it is easy for the group to arrange meetings with the company without having to plan too far in advance.
"The company has been very open to our ideas and they listen to what we have to say. The fact that it is a local company is, of course, a great advantage, almost luxury", says Ramona. The collaboration within the group is also working well. All groups consist of students from the three different specialisations: business, engineering and design.
"The interesting part about working in a collaboration like this is that I, being a designer, view things differently. As opposed to financial managers and engineers I don't think very much about production and costs in the first stage of generating ideas", says Ramona.
Sebastian Duque studies on the business specialisation. He thinks that it has been very instructive to work together with students from the other specialisations.
"We all have different perspectives, and our working processes are also different from each other. We get to learn how designers and engineers think, just like in real-life projects", he explains.
Sebastian's group works with Alstermo Bruk, a company making suitcases. They keep contact through email, but also through visits both ways. Sebastian's group has focused on the concept of sustainability and is developing a new product.
"First, we worked four weeks with the development of a design model and now we have reached the engineering process. Once we have completed that, we will work four weeks with the business process. In this way, we will all learn the entire development process, which is very rewarding", says Sebastian.
Joe Sullivan studies on the engineering specialisation and works with the company Quickbutton, a supplier of campaign buttons, name tags and conference badges. Joe's group has also had a sustainability perspective in the development of their product and they have chosen to work with the material bamboo.
"We are really benefitting from each other's different skill sets and different previous experiences within the group. I, for instance, have never before really come into contact with the financial management part. The entire programme is very focused on teamwork", Joe says.
Innovation through business, engineering and design is a 2-year master programme offered at Linnaeus University in Växjö. The programme offers three different specialisations and the language of tuition is English.
Application and portfolio
Information about the programme
IKEA's and Linnaeus University's collaboration programme The Bridge is a multidisciplinary education and research collaboration dealing with life at home and conditions of production. In simple words, the aim is to tie together a number of disciplines to create a better life at home for the many people. It deals partly with what fundamental needs we have and what furniture we need, but also with how production can be made as cheap and environmentally friendly as possible.
As a result of The Bridge, Linnaeus University has been able to establish an IKEA professorship, unique to the world. The research environment revolving around the subject area Life at Home is developed in collaboration with doctoral students. It is this research environment that makes it possible for Linnaeus University to establish the interdisciplinary master programme.
The master programme has an interdisciplinary perspective, combining engineering, business, and design. The programme enables students to learn from each other's knowledge and improves their ability to work with different projects and product development. The master programme is offered in close collaboration with a number of companies, IKEA being one of them.
Learning from other disciplines and cultures
"The program is formed by 15 students: six Designers, six Engineers and three students from Business. We all come from different countries; Sweden, Turkey, China, Iran, Italy, Kirghizstan, Bosnia and Colombia, which is where I come from.
As you can tell it is a very mixed group regarding disciplines, cultures, languages and professional backgrounds".
~Juliana Restrepo
During this first semester we have been working in three different groups and three different modules have been finalized. It has given us experience and the possibility to analyze the advantages and difficulties of an interdisciplinary team work. The first module was really exciting when we got the opportunity to work with IKEA. Each group was assigned with a brief and the task was to develop a concept for them. We presented our ideas and progress every week, received feedback and delivered a final presentation. The second and third modules focused on Design and Engineering. We have been working with three local companies with a very different range of products. We have just started with the fourth module which focuses on Business. Focus groups and target costing will be used as tools for the development of our projects.
The program itself represents a great opportunity for us and all the people who is involved. Learning from other disciplines and cultures; new ways of working, thinking, planning and delivering results. The structure of the master program is in continuous development and has caused a bit of confusion among the students. However, it can also be seen as an opportunity for improvement, planning and future success of the program.
I am looking forward to work with IKEA again and to take on future challenges during the following semesters."
For more information click "Further official information" below.
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
https://lnu.se/en/program/dain2/20162/f5201/