Collaboration for Innovation, Transformation and Sustainability

Why and how are organizations increasingly using collaboration as a strategic tool to develop their innovation activities? Which types of teams are better prepared to collaborate with external parties? How are collaborative networks built and how can they be managed effectively? What role can collaboration play for social and sustainability focused innovation?

These are questions that have deserved ample attention from scholars, managers, and policy makers in recent years. This is not surprising since the increased complexity of innovation processes leads organizations to search beyond their own boundaries for valuable knowledge and skills that complement their own capabilities. Organizations are now part of open ecosystems where they cooperate with a diverse set of partners from business, civil society, academia and government.

The core aim of the Collaboration for Innovation, Transformation and Sustainability Summer School is to help young researchers address relevant research questions that will contribute to our understanding of how collaboration is implemented by organizations. Our ambition is to provide PhD students with the opportunity to develop their research with the support of a diverse set of researchers that investigate collaboration from different perspectives.

The intense and diverse nature of this summer school will allow participants to acquire knowledge on both the specific topic of collaboration but also on the process of developing a PhD thesis. By bringing together several top scholars in the field, the summer school will also allow participants to develop a deep understating of research in the field of collaboration and create social ties that will be important for their future careers.