News
RNS student won 2nd prize at innovation essay competition
Johanna Vallistu, a MA student at RNS (Technology Governance) has won the 2nd prize at innovation essay competition organized by the Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture at the University of Oslo.
Johanna won a 2000€ award and was invited to Oslo on November 25 to present her essay entitled “The Digitized Manufacturing – A Revolution Waiting to Happen”. She will present her essay at a workshop followed by a prize ceremony, both of which are part of the 50th anniversary of the Social Science Faculty, University of Oslo.
The first prize (4000€) was won by Riccardo David Battaglia (“The smartphone industry towards a dominant design: An empirical analysis”) and 3rd prize (1000€) went to Stijn van Ewijk for “Re-inventing the multi-level perspective for technological transitions: a more rigorous tool for analysis and two case studies”.
According to the jury, the three winning essays were all high quality and “managed to combine both theoretical and empirical issues, and that relate to the field of innovation studies.” The jury comprised a set of distinguished senior scholars in the field of innovation studies, including Professor Bengt-Åke Lundvall (Aalborg University), who is also a member of the Advisory Board of the RNS Technology Governance program.
Competition background
Innovation is increasingly recognized as a key feature of modern society. The academic study of innovation – its driving forces, exploitation, social and economic consequences and policy issues that arise – has grown rapidly from a modest start about half a century ago. The University of Oslo has chosen “Innovation” as its core academic theme for 2013. In recognition of this theme, the Social Science Faculty of the University of Oslo, in collaboration with the TIK Centre, announce an essay competition in innovation studies.
The competition is open for master students currently enrolled in universities in the EU/EEA. The focus of the essay competition is social science analyses of innovation processes. Essays have to focus on a specific innovation process, including its prerequisites, development, implementation, policy implications and other consequences. The essay has to use theoretical perspectives from relevant areas of the social sciences as a basis for understanding the dynamics of the innovation process, the reasons for its outcome and the lessons that can be learned from this process. The essay has to be a non-published (or submitted) essay written in English (max. 4000-6000 words including reference materials). Assessment criteria include scientific quality, analysis and writing, case originality, and relevance to our understanding of innovation in modern societies.
