KTH ITM Development Plan 2013 2016

7/28/2019 KTH ITM Development Plan 2013 2016

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ITM Academic Development Plan 2013-2016

School of Industrial Engineering and Management

KTH


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ITM Academic Development Plan 2013-2016 2(13)

Executive summaryThis academic development plan is based on an ITM vision for the year 2020 according to the following:

ITM is internationally recognized for its impact towards a sustainable society through outstandingeducation, research and innovation.

In terms ofacademic leadership, and attractive and stimulating work and study environment, ITM is arole model for the other KTH schools.

Conscious and integrated strategies towards research funding have substantially increased theamount ofbreakthrough research.

Conscious strategies for integration of technical, management and innovation disciplines haveincreased the attractiveness and quality of our education (from undergraduate to postgraduate) even

beyond todays high standard.

Our entrepreneurial innovations are recognised as an important impact factor on society, thanks to anestablished entrepreneurial culture and innovation infrastructure.

In all of the above respects, ITM should be recognized among the leaders in Europe.To reach this vision, four main areas of development are outlined and constitute the main headings of the ITM

Academic Development Plan 2013-2016. The main headings are briefly summarized below.

Attractive working environment and skilled academic leadership. Each person employed as a leader for a

school, department, division or program should have taken at least one course to improve their leadership

skills before 2016. ITM management should have been trained in equality and diversity by 2015. Different

means/tools for monitoring the status of the working environment should be investigated, and the most

appropriate solution should be applied. Special attention will be given to gender equality and diversity work.

By 2016 our goal is that 28 % of the ITM faculty should be female (as opposed to 20 % in 2013); KTHs goal is

25 %. ITM management should devise strategies and principles to support faculty interested in spending time

at foreign universities, and to attract talented non-Swedish postdocs.

Leading undergraduate and graduate education. ITM should retain the application statistics and work to

increase the number of first hand and female applicants, and actively start projects in which diversity andgender issues are addressed. ITM sees the need to arrange further activities to support students not to not fall

behind in their studies during the first year. A more fully developed academic introduction should be

developed. The number of ITM programme students studying abroad should be increased for example by

identifying sister universities, and implementing international specializations and exchange semesters. All

programs should have integrated and explicitly examined elements of sustainable development. Educational

activities should be arranged for the teachers in sustainable development for engineers.

Towards excellence in research and research education. A common understanding of excellence as a general

culture needs to permeate all levels of the ITM School. We see a need to define what constitutes excellence,

and a specific project including bench marking with top research environments is planned to address this. In

parallel, strategies for increased funding, increased mobility, increased publication, and improved research

education should be designed. Once the School-wide stage for excellence is set, each department will besupported in identifying and implementing the steps it needs to take for meeting the ITM 2020 vision.

Setting the standard for innovation and entrepreneurship. ITM should strengthen the entrepreneurial and

innovative culture, promote more spin-offs, and enable closer interaction with small- and medium-sized

enterprises (SMEs). This may lead to more radical innovations, but it is important to acknowledge that

entrepreneurship also takes place within existing firms (intrapreneurship) and in the public sector. ITM should

set up strategic alliances with relevant universities and other agents known for having a stronghold in

entrepreneurship and innovation. ITM should further develop attractive physical and virtual meeting places to

stimulate innovation, and we should consider pedagogical traits that allow students to engage in practical

exercises not only with our traditional industry partners but also as entrepreneurs and innovators. An ITM-

garage for experimental, prototyping, innovative and entrepreneurial activities should be established as a joint

effort with KTH Innovation, and in conjunction with rebuilding, restoring and modernizing the Brasilia quarters.


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1.RationaleThe scope of this development plan is limited to the academic activities of ITMs six Departments (AppliedMechanical Engineering, Energy Technology, Industrial Economics and Management, Machine Design, Material

Science and Production Engineering). The non-academic processes are also essential to our success, and are

covered in a parallel administrative development plan. Creation of the ITM Academic Development Plan 2013-

2016 has involved a large number of academics in four writing and reference groups, corresponding to the four

main areas covered in the main headings below. The plan has been processed in the ITM Strategic Council, in

the ITM Management Group, and distributed to all ITM employees.

Setting the standardThe main asset of the ITM School is its employees academic as well as administrative and technical staff. The

most important objective of the current document is to establish a plan of action that leads to better

opportunities for our academic employees to sustainably develop and deliver outstanding education, research

and innovation. The output from the ITM School should be of such a standard that it substantially contributes

to the branding of KTH and to the KTH drive for excellence, societal impact and international recognition. It is

the responsibility of all school, department, unit and programme leaders to consistently strive for a working

climate that stimulates and supports our employees in this endeavour.

It should be noted that this four-year development plan does notoutline a development in terms of prioritized

subject areas for research and corresponding tenure track positions, nordoes it define prioritized themes for,

or dimensioning of, educational programs. Instead, it focuses on the means, mechanisms and processes that

give us inspiration, efficacy and quality in what we do.

Prioritization within research and education, including where to focus improvement efforts and strengthening

of the faculty, will be based on:

This development plan Evaluations of research, education and where available innovation Strategic planning at the department level Strategic planning in the ITM management groups, including Strategiska rdet A refined yearly activity plan

ITM profile and core valuesThe ITM School should be regarded as the natural choice of an education and research organization for those

interested in the interface between natural sciences, engineering, management, entrepreneurial activities and

innovation. The overarching challenge is to perform high quality research and education (both broad and

deep) that is relevant for industrial and societal innovation on a longer term. ITM should benefit and learnfrom the breadth of activities and cultures among its six departments. Our variety can be seen in terms of

research character, closeness to industry, publication culture, research/education balance, and international

profile. The ITM School also appreciates the diversity of its employees and students in terms of gender, age

and ethnicity, and needs to capitalise on the inherent potential that lies therein.

A stimulating and supportive working environment for students and staff is absolutely essential to attain the

vision and goals defined in this plan. Professional academic leadership based on strategic thinking, high

integrity and respect for the individual be they faculty, administrator, student, guest, collaborator or

customer should be exercised in a consistent and coherent manner on all levels.

The attractiveness of the ITM environment also relies on professional order and maintenance of our premises

and infrastructure. Anyone entering a seminar room, a department lab, an innovation studio, a coffee room or

a co-workers office should feel welcome and be struck by the good order and up-to-date standard of our

physical and work environment.


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The development plan as a toolThe ITM School has systematically analysed (supported by the RAE and EAE processes and reports) its

strengths and weaknesses in research, education and innovation. The identification of our main challenges has

been refined into the development activities, processes and goals documented in this development plan,

offering concrete and useful guidance for prioritizing our developments and evaluating our progress.

The plan as a whole, as well as the targeted sections, will be followed up through presentations and

discussions within the school at recurring events organised by the ITM management. In parallel with this, it is

the responsibility of all our academic leaders to make sure that the Academic Development Plan 2013-2016 is

well communicated and used within the respective departments, units and programs, and it is the duty of all

employees to contribute as best they can.

Every year from 2013 to 2016, the following will apply:

In August/September: A more concrete and refined but preliminary action plan for the following yearshould be available as a basis for negotiations with KTH management about the coming Activity

Assignment (Verksamhetsuppdrag). The format and final timing of this yearly action plan will be

decided upon by the Management Group. The yearly action plan should as far as possible quantify

goals in measurable terms. Published in March: Follow up of results measured against this development plan and the preceding

years action plan.

To KTH management in particularEach of the main headings below is prefaced with its relationship to the KTH Development Plan upon which

the ITM challenges have been defined and further refined into concrete goals and activity plans. The ITM

School has put substantial effort into this development plan in order to improve its activities in support of the

KTH endeavours of continuous improvements towards internationally recognized excellence. In return, ITM

expects support to facilitate us reaching these goals, and anticipates that the KTH management will respond in

a structured, transparent, consistent and well documented way to our requests in conjunction with the school

dialogues. Obviously this is reciprocal - such responses and support can only be expected if the supplied plans,requests and background information from ITM are of high quality and built on a sound basis.

A key message to the KTH management is that the ITM School will apply conscious strategies both short and

long term to maintain our extensive education and to achieve a better balance (higher ratio) between faculty

funding for research/research education and funding for undergraduate and graduate education. At present,

the ITM School has the lowest such ratio of all the KTH Schools, and the yearly trend as it stands now is still

pointing downwards.

2.Attractive working environment and skilled academicleadership

The main goals of the KTH development plan, with respect to working environment and leadership, are to

establish creative and scientifically excellent environments that promote collaboration internal as well as

external. Furthermore, KTH should invest in leadership training to promote the formation of attractive working

environments, which in turn attracts the best students and personnel. Concerning working environment and

leadership, the formation of the ITM Academic Development Plan is based on the following drivers taken from

the KTH development plan:

Good leadership should be looked upon as a skill that is necessary in an academic career The number of women in the faculty should be increased The working environment should be improved The internationalization as well as the international collaboration should be strengthened The adaptation of international students and staff to Swedish society should be further strengthened


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Main challenges, opportunities and prioritized areasA main challenge is to develop an agenda that covers education, research and innovation in an integrated

manner in order to meet the future demands from a global and sustainable society. The fulfilment of this

agenda must be facilitated by establishing a comfortable, dynamic, creative and innovative working

environment, which is driven by dedication, curiosity and collaboration.

The most prioritized area is the further development of the academic leadership, which is necessary to

continuously improve and support the organization in reaching the goals ahead. It is also of importance to

increase the number of women in order to create a more even gender balance on all faculty positions. In

addition, it is critical to develop creative working places, where diversity with respect to gender, age and

ethnicity is a natural part of the everyday working life.

Our most important deliverables to society are engineers and researchers. Thus, the most important focus is to

maintain a successful supply of well-educated and widely competent engineers and researchers to industry,

academia and society. By increasing the collaboration between ITM individuals and research groups, and

extending the collaboration to other disciplines and scientific paradigms, it will be possible to develop stronger

inter-disciplinary research teams, which can better meet future societal demands. A focus on innovation will

increase the impact of our research results in industrial applications and new businesses.Academic staff and students should given the constraints on available resources be supported by the most

effective and efficient administrative processes for conducting their academic activities. This requires

continuous reflection on and improvement of our professional administration.

2020 visionThe overall vision of excellence in research and education is enabled by an attractive, creative and professional

working environment for both students and staff. The academic leadership at all levels within ITM represents

a highly valued capability based on integrity and sound scientific knowledge in combination with a clear ability

to organize and lead towards jointly determined goals. Throughout ITM, all employees and students have

equal opportunities irrespective of gender, age, ethnicity and religion.

Development activitiesAs evident from recent co-worker investigations, the working environment at ITM has room for both physical

and psychosocial improvement. The focus on better academic leadership is one concrete activity towards this.

Leadership skills will be sought after during recruitment, and continuously developed and cultivated within the

organization. In addition, ITM undertakes to increase awareness and monitoring of the working environment,

and take pro-active measures wherever possible.

Support for academic career development should be developed for younger faculty, both for researchers and

tenure track positions. Furthermore, increasing the proportion of women in faculty roles is of high priority for

ITM. It is particularly important to identify and remove obstacles that hinder the careers of female academics.

The recruitment base for future tenure track positions can be improved by identifying strong female

candidates for postdoc positions.

Mapping of the experimental facilities and numerical codes (software) available within the ITM School will

facilitate strengthening of the collaboration between different research groups and lead to better utilization of

infrastructure investments. In addition, efforts will also be made to identify new strategic investments in

experimental facilities and numerical codes which are of benefit to the ITM research groups on a broader

scale. From a future RAE perspective, it is also of special importance to clearly emphasize and promote the

Schools strong experimental facilities, something not addressed sufficiently in the last RAE.

Goals against which to evaluate progressLeadership training. Each person employed as a leader for a school, department, division or program should

have taken at least one course to improve their leadership skills before 2016. Preferably, all department heads

should have done this by the end of 2014, and all unit heads by the end of 2015. The ITM management group


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should have been trained in equality and diversity by 2015 in order to improve leadership with respect to

these issues. This is important since support from the management is critical for successful implementation of

change.

Working environment. The personnels opinion regarding the physical and psychosocial work environment

should be gathered regularly from 2013 to 2016. Each evaluation should result in an action plan with specific

targets to be met before the following years evaluation. The situation for PhD students on scholarships shouldbe given special attention since they do not automatically have the same privileges as their employed student

colleagues.

The overall goal is to establish a continuous process of improving the working environment to create a

stimulating and creative work place for all personnel. Different means/tools for monitoring the status of the

working environment should be investigated, and the most appropriate solution put in place by 2014 at the

latest.

Special attention will be given to how gender equality and diversity work can be supported at different levels

at the school. The ITM management should make sure that appropriated resources are allocated and

organised for this purpose, and that the work performed is reported regularly to the management group

through the Future Faculty responsible.

Number of women in the faculty. In general ITM appreciates the gender balance goals as defined in the KTH

Development Plan. By 2016 our goal is that 28 % of the ITM faculty should be female (as opposed to 20 % in

2013); KTHs goal is 25 %.

To do this, ITM will provide resources for development projects that aim at identifying and removing barriers

to women's careers and offer resources to women and men who are committed to change initiatives to

improve the working environment. Inspiration for such work can be taken from the IKKA project and from the

Harriet project that was conducted within the VINN Excellence Center Hero-m at ITM.

ITM further proposes recruiting young female postdocs with backgrounds closely matching the focus areas of

the School. Given the ITM commitment to support career development and equal opportunities for all, they

should then be able to compete for future assistant professorships at the school. For this purpose, at least twofemale postdocs should be strategically hired per year, receiving partial support from the ITM School,

preferably via the verksamhetsuppdrag.

Internationalization. At present, 34 % of ITM faculty have gained experience of at least one year abroad. We

would like to increase that to 35 % by 2016, and ITM management should devise strategies and principles to

support faculty interested in spending time at foreign universities. A specific goal is to attract three non-

Swedish postdocs per year during 2014-2016.

Adaptation to Swedish society. Within their first year in Sweden, all PhD students, postdocs and faculty from

abroad should be offered one Swedish class to stimulate learning of the Swedish language and culture. This

will be financed directly from the ITM School.

3.Leading undergraduate and graduate educationThe KTH development plan puts forward a number of priority areas for the period 2013-2016 including

excellence in education among the European universities, with the ambition to compete with other top

universities to recruit the best students and researchers worldwide. As the largest school at KTH in terms of

education, ITM not only plays a major role in fulfilling the KTH development plan but also in proposing

strategic initiatives from which KTH can find inspiration. KTH overall and ITM specifically should be associated

with sustainable development, an open and creative atmosphere, re-thinking and originality with high

qualitative education and research. ITM will adapt and plan for a brighter tomorrow by educating engineers

who are able to develop effective and sustainable solutions for society.


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The education at ITMAlmost a third of the student population at KTH is registered at ITM. The School currently hosts five M.Sc.

degree programmes in engineering, one B.Sc. degree programme in engineering, several master programmes

(one and two years) and a technical preparatory year/semester. ITM education is characterized by width and

depth in the offered courses, some of which largely utilize CDIO1

pedagogy. Proven strengths include:

- Several large and well recognized programmes with high qualification grades- The quality and nature of the programmes results in a high employment rate for graduating students- The master programmes are located at research intensive departments with well recognized activities- Many external partners enable study visits, projects in courses, degree projects and guest lectures- Many highly motivated and skilled teachers- Large international co-operation through network participation (InnoEnergy, T.I.M.E, Cluster), student

exchange schemes, shared master programmes, teacher exchange, and M.Sc. and B.Sc. thesis projects

performed abroad (for example, as Minor Field Studies).

2020 visionBuilding on the existing strengths as listed above, the ITM 2020 education vision is:

ITMs education is characterized by supreme quality and a distinct identity formed by excellentstudents and committed teachers.

ITM offers among the best engineering programs in Europe through individual-centred learning ininnovative teaching environments.

ITM demonstrates a sustainable campus, with a creative, innovative, attractive and accessibleenvironment.

ITM educates engineers for global impact both students and teachers have international experiencewhich affects curricula and recruitment.

Recruitment

There are a number of issues which affect the composition of our student body. Overall, the ITM degreeprogrammes already have a high number of first-hand applicants, although for some programmes, an increase,

would promote higher throughput and examination rates. Also, even though the two of the five MSc degree

programmes are characterized by gender balance, there is a general need for the School to recruit more

female undergraduates. The diversity (e.g. geographical origin, ethnicity, academic tradition) of students is not

particularly reflective of society in general. A high proportion of the students come from the nearby

geographical area, i.e. Stockholm region. And last but not least, the study fee for non-EU master students

introduced in 2011 resulted in a reduction of international applicants. It will require innovative and pro-active

marketing of our master programmes, to increase the number of enrolled international students. The goals

regarding recruitment at ITM for the period 2013-2016 are thus to:

- Retain the application statistics and work to increase the number of first hand applicants.- Increase the number of high-calibre paying students in the master programmes.- Act for an increase in the number of enrolled female students.- Act for diversity and geographical distribution of the students when marketing the engineering

programs.

ITM will actively start projects in which diversity and gender issues are addressed. Increased co-operation with

upper secondary schools may also contribute to achieving the above goals. ITM will also work actively to

reduce the number of students dropping out of the programmes after the first semester.

1CDIO- Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate A pedagogy training the professional skills in communication, engineering,

team- and project work, innovation and entrepreneurship and sustainable development


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Retention and throughputWith the largest number of undergraduates of all the KTH schools, ITM plays a very important role in

contributing to increased examination rates and throughput. One of the key issues for a student to progress in

time is to not fall behind in their studies during the first year, and ITM sees the need to arrange further

activities to support this. A major challenge is the current lack of a practical and efficient tool to follow-up the

progress of each student. A new computer platform, called Strmmingen, developed by the CSC School incooperation with ITM, may simplify this work significantly.

The goals regarding retention and throughput at ITM for the period 2013-2016 are to:

- Increase the number of issued degrees (B.Sc. in Engineering and M.Sc. in Engineering) to comply withthe goal set by KTH.

- Develop Strmmingen to be a powerful, interactive and easy to use tool for student follow-up atKTH.

- Increase the retention and study results for the students in year 1 through a more fully developedacademic introduction (for example study techniques).

- Improve the study and social environment for the students with a focus on creativity, improvedaccess to the student office and workshops, and also promoting flexible learning tools to be used.

- Review, analyze and improve support activities for courses with low throughput- Act to ensure that each student feels welcome, appreciated, heard and respected regardless of

background, gender or impairment.

InternationalizationThe environment at ITM is already international, with a large number of non-Swedish students and

researchers. We have a significant number of students coming in from European universities, but the challenge

is to balance that number with outgoing students, i.e. to encourage more of the ITM students to study abroad.

Studying abroad enhances the achievement of the learning outcomes concerning reflective thinking. The

ambition is also to encourage teaching staff to spend time abroad and fetch impression for education and

courses at other universities.

The goals regarding internationalization at ITM for the period 2013-2016 are to:

- Increase the number of ITM programme students studying abroad (especially in Europe) bysimplifying the process and for example by identifying sister universities, and implementing

international specializations and exchange semesters.

- Increase the number of teachers travelling on exchange within the Erasmus exchange programs.- Review the dual/double degree agreements and investigate how to best utilize such arrangements.

Sustainable EngineeringThe development of society is closely related to development of technology and at the same time there is a

need to fulfil the global environmental goals and agreements. There is also a large global challenge to fightpoverty and inequalities, in which technology development plays a very important role. It is therefore essential

that ITM educates engineers who consider environment, society and economy simultaneously in the

development of products and processes to create a sustainable future. During the period 2013-2016, a special

effort should be performed at ITM in integrating sustainable development into the education.

The goals regarding sustainable development at ITM for the period 2013-2016 are:

- All programs (except Technical Preparatory Year) should during the first year have at least oneintroduction which explicitly examines the topic of sustainable development.

- All programs should have at least one integrated element of sustainable development per year withinits technology context. This could be done for example in projects, home assignments and laboratory

exercises and should be examined explicitly.

- Educational activities should be arranged for the teachers in sustainable development for engineers.


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4.Towards excellence in research and research educationWith regards to research, the overarching goals of the KTH development plan are to strengthen KTHs positionas a leading technical university, and to manifest this by attaining high-level positions in relevant ranking lists,

as well as by demonstrating leading-edge research. Furthermore, cross-topical cooperation with external

actors should be facilitated and increased. The formulation of the development plan for research and research

education at ITM is based upon the following drivers (extracted from the current KTH development plan):

KTH should contribute to solutions on future global societal challenges. Research should be well communicated. Research environments should meet high standards. Infrastructure and its funding is a critical issue. Cross- and multidisciplinary research should be further strengthened. External funding of research should be increased.

Research at ITMThe research at ITM spans a variety of different topics and research fields, covering issues that can easily be

mirrored in the engineering challenges of industry and society from physical phenomena and technological

questions to managerial issues. The ITM School holds doctoral programs in: Energy and Environmental

Systems; Engineering Materials Science; Machine Design; Production Engineering; Industrial Economics and

Management; and Economics. The research at ITM cannot be generally described in a uniform manner: the

departments conduct both basic and applied research; the research topics cover areas of different

dissemination traditions; we have varying levels of closeness to industry and society; experimentation is crucial

in some areas, but absent in others.

Main challenges, opportunities and prioritized areas

Research and Research Education at ITM should aim to maintain the strong underlying characteristic of theITM School - namely performing high qualitative research (both broad and deep) that is relevant for industry

and society - and, in parallel, to boost research performance and show commitment to, and support of, really

novel and relevant research. Clearly, this should continue to be done in close collaboration with existing and

new industry. As such, the ITM goals for the future listed here are completely integral to those of KTH.

Research excellence and its dissemination:o Expand the research excellence currently shown by some individuals/groups to every groupo Increase number of publications, increase citationso Integrate professors in undergraduate education to a larger extent

Research environmento Secure a sound research environment at each departmento Rejuvenation of faculty and improved recruitmento Balance work load in the short and long term

Research Educationo Secure high qualitative research education, linked to research results, and emphasize the

importance of good supervision

o Deliver doctoral courses of high quality on a regular basis, common across the Schoolwherever appropriate

o Secure appropriate support, including efficient supervision for doctoral students, in order tokeep an effective throughput of PhDs.

Mobility and collaborationo Increase mobility with industry and with academia in national and international arenaso Increase collaboration within the ITM School


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Fundingo Develop and apply conscious strategies for attaining research funding

Infrastructureo Secure and maintain up to date experimental laboratories with relevance for research and

industrial assignments

2020 visionThe vision of ITM Research and Research Education is:

World-class research groups producing high quality results with a well-documented positive impact insociety, arising from ITMs provision of a creative and positive environment that enables our

employees to thrive in their professional assignments.

Strategically devised funding of research allows breakthrough research. The ITM School is attractive for employment, collaboration, mobility and visits.

Development activitiesA world-class research environment produces top tier results and makes employees thrive in their

professional assignments

Excellent research results should continue to be the outcome of ITM research and research education, in all

research departments. Whilst the results may be listed in different categories (scientific publications,

applicable results in industry and other organizations, as well as impacts in society & industry), they all rely on

the high ambition and good qualifications of the faculty members. A common understanding of excellence as a

general culture needs to permeate all levels of the ITM School and its departments. What research excellence

means to ITM should be defined and communicated throughout the organization and improvement areas

should be identified and adequately supported. This definition should include metrics (quantitative and

qualitative on results and impacts) and lay the foundation for every further revision of the development plan.

The ITM School needs to define what constitutes a stimulating and eminent research environment and

subsequently strive to accomplish this for all employees at the departments. The success of the environmentshould be borne out by the improved quality of research results within every research group. The same

emphasis must also be given to the Schools research education. A list of criteria underpinning excellent

research education should be formed, communicated to each department and used as a steering mechanism.

Peer reviewed journal publications are a well-accepted form of scientific quality assurance and, in relation to

this, the ITM School should strive for a cultural change in parts of the organizations. This can be achieved both

by developing the publication skills of our researchers, and also by deploying specific efforts in publishing in

the best publications and/or those with high citation indexes. An initial step is to define relevant targets,

publication roadmaps and means for following up progress.

Another strategically vital action is to increase the dissemination of leading-edge research by including the

main research actors in undergraduate and graduate education. This implies the greater involvement of

professors in all levels of education, in order to increase their visibility and interaction with students.

Furthermore, in their role as responsible for leading edge research in their fields, our professors should be

engaged in the continuous development of education programs at the ITM School.

Mobility and collaboration in general are crucial to the discovery of relevant issues and problems in industry

and society that can benefit from research. International mobility can increase the quality of our research

methodology and lead to integration of additional disciplines or experts. Mobility and collaboration also play a

vital role in the dissemination and communication of research results in different contexts, and can hence lead

to impact on society at large. These dual goals can be achieved through an increase in the number of

researchers spending time periods in industry and in other research environments.

Funding strategies are today mostly applied at an individual level. To become more strategic and tactical, an

exchange of experiences and recommendations should be achieved within the ITM School. This calls for

specific arenas for faculty members, one of which should be the financing of breakthrough research, together


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with the identification of win-win-collaborations within the School and joint efforts for impacting fund raisers

and key target groups for ITM research.

In order to secure a sound development of the physical research environments, laboratories and test cells, an

overview of needs for development is required. This should be defined for the ITM School with a long term

plan on how to rebuild, combine resources and develop the environments.

In summary: In order to accomplish the future goals of ITM Research andResearch Education, there is a need

for a number of actions which will engage groups of people from all departments. We see a need to define ITM

research and what constitutes excellence, and a specific project including bench marking with top research

environments is planned to address this. In parallel, strategies for increased funding, increased mobility,

increased publication, and improved research education should be designed. An ITM arena for experience

exchange should be developed, and levels for School-wide critical measures established. Once the School-wide

stage for excellence is set, each department will be supported in identifying and implementing the steps it

needs to take for meeting the ITM 2020 vision.

5.Setting the standard for innovation and entrepreneurship

According to KTHs development plan, the three core areas of education, research and innovation should be

conducted in an integrated structure. The proposed measures to be implemented in order to strengthen KTHs

position with regard to innovation are specified as:

Through a well-developed communication strategy for research and innovation, KTH's achievementsin those areas should be made visible.

Interaction should take place at several levels and among a variety of partners, e.g. large and smallbusinesses, organizations and agencies at the national, regional and local levels.

Alliances of various kinds between KTH and other universities and research institutes is encouragedand expected to leverage education and research and to stimulate more discoveries.

Both physical and virtual environments should be created to stimulate innovation, and flexible modesto integrate more of e-learning should also be adopted. Students should be able to work with needs-driven innovation projects.

Remarkably enough, entrepreneurship is not mentioned in the development plan at the KTH level, but will

certainly be emphasized below.

Innovation and entrepreneurship at ITMInnovation is an important aspect of ITM activities in both research and education. ITM-based initiatives over

recent years include PIEp (Product Innovation Engineering program), CECIS (Centre of Excellence for Science

and Innovation Studies) and INNO Energy (EIT KIC).

Main challenges, opportunities and prioritized areasA first challenge is to develop a coherent view of the objectives and future path of the ITM School, and to

avoid counter-productive internal competition for resources (funding, courses, etc.) and a disintegrated

structure. One strand in such a process refers to the strengthening of the entrepreneurial and innovative

culture, to promote more spin-offs, and enabling closer interaction with small- and medium-sized enterprises

(SMEs). Currently and traditionally - much of the KTH-industry contacts focus on existing, large incumbents.

However, ITM recognizes that SMEs and start-ups fulfil important complementary tasks in an industry/cluster

evolution perspective.

Establishing a stronger entrepreneurial and innovative culture may lead to more radical innovations (as

opposed to the more incremental and process-oriented innovations that typically match the demands of our

larger scale industry colleagues). Having said that, it is important to acknowledge that entrepreneurship also

takes place within existing firms (intrapreneurship) and in the public sector, and that it does so in increasingly

diverse network structures involving a multi-fold of actors and sectors.


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ITM needs to find ways to highlight the role of innovation and entrepreneurship, and make them more visible,

in addition to providing distinct incentives to undertake such endeavours. One possibility that will be explored

is to link ITM to the activities planned at the future Open Lab, and to further deepen our interaction with KTH

Innovation and Sting. We could also define other conceivable cooperation and innovative nodes both within

and outside of KTH. In addition, and as a joint initiative with KTH Innovation, an ITM-garage for

experimental, prototyping, innovative and entrepreneurial activities should be established.Another challenge (but presently also a stronghold) is the internationalization of higher education and

research. The ITM School has to position itself in an environment characterized by fiercer competition for

students, research talents and funding- for which branding is an increasingly important strategic task. Finally,

sustainability is an increasingly important issue at the local as well as global level, and should become a

prioritized issue across ITMs different activities and functions.

2020 visionThe overall objective is that ITM should contribute to knowledge that is of societal use, implying an even closer

connection to the business sector and exploiting our advantage of having an interdisciplinary curriculum.

Innovation spans several dimensions such as products, processes and organization. A deeper integration of

technical, management and economics disciplines throughout education and research can be expected tofoster a stronger entrepreneurial and innovative culture.

The ambition would be to build up such an innovation brand and reputation sequentially, starting with the

Stockholm region and then extending to a national level. Furthermore, at the European and global levels, ITM

should be seen as one of the several top level institutions in promoting entrepreneurship and innovation.

State of the art scientific contributions and top notch education must coincide with the facilitation of

innovative and entrepreneurial activities, and an internal incentive structure that fosters such a creative

environment. To achieve such an end, the importance of academic leadership and governance cannot be

stressed enough, and must be developed continuously, as well as being a core strategic priority when

recruiting at different levels of the ITM organization.

Development activitiesWe propose a three-fold strategy, considering the following measures:

Building the ITM brand and improving visibility

Build a stronger ITM brand by more focus on visualizing different ITM activities under responsibility ofour communication/information director. That should cover the entire range from utilizing active

webpages to working with relevant media in order to elevate achievements related to research, start-

ups and innovations. Developing and extending networks to relevant stakeholders/target groups

would be part of such assignment.

ITM needs to enlarge the set of external agents that can contribute to our development of anentrepreneurial and innovative culture, and to encourage/enable location at campus of such agents,

thereby also strengthening the visibility and brand of the ITM School. That involves setting up

strategic alliances with relevant universities known for having a stronghold in entrepreneurship and

innovation, to initiate student/staff exchange programs. The strategic use of ITM alumni in education,

networks and funding would be very valuable.

ITM should further develop attractive physical and virtual meeting places to stimulate innovation,including more of e-learning and other flexible forms of education.

Building a competitive campus and an attractive curriculum

Make sure that the potential of combining interdisciplinary courses is exploited at all levels of ITMeducation, from the basic level through to our graduate courses. Consider pedagogical traits that

allow students to engage in practical exercises not only with our traditional industry partners but also

as entrepreneurs and innovators, e.g. as part of their x-jobs or master thesis. Involve examples of

innovation, intra- and entrepreneurship early on in all programmes.


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The understanding of the mechanisms and consequences of globalization should constitute a naturalpart of course work, given that labour markets, research networks and economic shocks/impulses are

all likely to become more global and more important for entrepreneurship and innovation. Similarly,

entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability should be key areas specifically highlighted in each

programme.

An ITM-garage for experimental, prototyping, innovative and entrepreneurial activities should beestablished as a joint effort with KTH Innovation, and in conjunction with rebuilding, restoring andmodernizing the Brazilia quarters towards a more integrated, creative and lively innovation

environment for students, staff and start-up enterprises.

Building a distinct incentive structure to promote innovation and entrepreneurship

An incentive structure for the defined objectives at ITM should be provided, including pecuniary (e.g.wages, project funding) and non-pecuniary (e.g. research time) rewards.

More prominent publicity of successful entrepreneurs/innovations emanating from the ITM School,identifying and highlighting success stories and role models.

Deepen and capitalize on the relationship with KTH Innovation. Consider developing an advisoryboard for ITM, composed of mainly non-KTH individuals successful in industry, society,entrepreneurship or other innovative institutions, that could evaluate ideas at an early stage.

Goals against which to evaluate progressAbove we have described the why, what and how. In order to come to grips with the how, i.e. whether the

initiated processes attain the defined objectives, we also need a set of criteria to evaluate performance. The

ITM School should consider the following measures:

Building brand

Document and visualize the extent and type of attention the ITM School has in mass-media on aregular basis by procuring such services.

Use social media to promote ITM and undertake regular follow up analysis. Use the annual report in a more direct way to promote the School and build our brand, targeting

relevant groups.

Attractive campus

Use staff and student surveys to examine the motives behind choosing the ITM School, and tomeasure the extent to which entrepreneurship and innovation is taught and promoted. Complement

the findings of such surveys with evaluation of the cooperation with strategically defined partners,

universities, research institutes, enterprises, etc., in relation to the defined objectives.

Involve alumni on a regular basis in ITM activities (teaching success stories, alumni evenings, etc.)Highlight their presence and contribution on the web, and at recurrent alumni events. Document and

visualize the number of spin-offs, patents and innovations emanating from ITM employees/students,

both during their time at KTH and in their subsequent professional careers. This will require

continuous and coordinated contact with alumni.

Incentive structures

Develop distinctive incentive structures to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, bothpecuniary and non-pecuniary rewards (as mentioned above). Examples could be awards for successful

entrepreneurs/innovations (student entrepreneur of the year etc.), or, awards directed towards visits

and student exchange programs to places known for a strong entrepreneurial and innovative culture,

e.g. MIT and Stanford, or mentorship with a successful alumnus.

One conceivable incentive could be a milder form of the Dragons nest - the possibility to present anidea to a group of advisors set up by the ITM School who would evaluate the future potential of ideas.

The number of ideas highly valued by such a group, or seed money invested, could be measurabletargets.

Documents

KTH ITM Development Plan 2013 2016