About us
The Innovation Research Group (IRG) was established in 2014 to conduct and disseminate high-quality research in innovation. IRG focuses on contributing to regional value creation and helping public organisations and private businesses to develop sustainable business models and practices. Additionally, it disseminates these findings, as well as train future generations to become effective practitioners in the field of innovation.
To achieve its mission, IRG is committed to:
- Initiate and support regional R&D projects
- Conduct research for publication in peer reviewed journals (Level 1 and 2)
- Organise academic writing workshops and symposia
- Implement findings in faculty programs and courses
- Build networks and arenas with relevant national and international actors
Strategic perspective
IRG recognises own research as means for sustainable development part of the green shift in the society, public organisations and private businesses. IRG is committed to implement findings in faculty programs and courses on all levels and supporting the quintuple innovation helix framework describing university-industry-government-public-environment collaboration within the knowledge economy.
Priorities 2020-2025
- 2023: 394.000 funding from the DAM Foundation in the project Psychological safety among students.
- 2023: Funding from the Bilateral Fund of the EEA and Norway Grants for the project Fostering Energy Transition and Resilience Capacity on Islands (FETREC). FETREC is a bilateral project between the town of Cres and Østfold University College in Norway.
- 2022: 32.000.000 NKr funding from EU Interreg North Sea Region for the project FREIIA Facilitating Resilience Embracing Islands Innovation Approaches with with Visit Fredrikstad & Hvaler and academic partners Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Högskolan Väst, Hanze Hogeshool og Aalborg University
- 2021: 3.000.000 NKr funding from DIKU Utforsk for the project Educating Leaders for a Sustainable Economy (ELSE) with Hebei GEO University (CN) and Beijing Jiaotong University (CN)
- 2020: € 2.319.370 funding from EU INTERREG ØKS for the project Greenbizz with Aarhus University Denmark and Chalmers University Sweden
Research infrastructure
The IRG Trustworthy AI Lab is an interdisciplinary and international research community to evaluate and discuss the mindful use of artificial intelligence in innovation projects, as part of the Z-Inspection® Initiative. As part of an international network of more than 20 labs, the Lab intends to encourage debate and reflection on the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence, acting as a meeting place for the international community,
IRG operates one of more than 30 Multi Business Model Innovation (MBMI) Labs globally. These labs are a central part of the Greenbizz project and an operative arena for collaboration on business model innovation and a meeting place for research, higher education and quintuple-helix initiatives with a special focus on start-ups and SMEs.