SASUF Satellite Events 2024

Link to the online event:
https://hv-se.zoom.us/j/62685694092
Meeting ID: 626 8569 4092

Contact details:
Alexandra Bousiou (HV) alexandra.bousiou@hv.se
Dr I (Elizabeth) Conradie (CUT) econradie@cut.ac.za
Erasmus Michelle (CUT) mellis@cut.ac.za

Abstract:
Innovation as a way of increasing the impact of research outside academia and as a driver of positive societal, environmental and economical change is gaining importance in Universities across the world and more specifically in Sweden and in South Africa. Although the importance of innovation work in the University is undeniable there are many challenges; financial, organisational as well as in relation to communicating and reaching the largest possible audience of students, teachers and researchers.

This workshop aims at bringing together two different strategies used in Sweden and in South Africa, respectively, in addressing the challenges of increasing the impact of innovation in our Universities. On the Swedish side we will be presenting our work in Innvationskontor Väst (IKV), a regional partnership of innovation offices of west Sweden universities. On the South African side, a practical inclusion of innovation in subject material disguised as a compulsory assignment will be demonstrated.

Summary of the idea/aim of the event:
This workshop aims at bringing together two different strategies used in Sweden and in South Africa, respectively, in addressing the challenges of increasing the impact of innovation in our Universities. On the Swedish side we will be presenting our work in Innvationskontor Väst (IKV), a regional partnership of innovation offices of west Sweden universities. On the South African side we will be presenting the assignment-based incorporation of entrepreneurial innovation in subject material with the support of an entrepreneurial support unit established in 2017 at Central University of Technology, Free Stata (CUT, FS).

Bringing together the innovation work of six Universities located in West Sweden (Högskolan Väst, Högskolan i Skövde, Högskolan i Borås, Jönköping University, Chalmers Technisk Högskolan och Högskolan i Halmstad) has resulted in positive synergies and has allowed us to magnify our impact. In spite of our differences in size and in focus areas in education and research the partner Universities of IKV have successfully manage to share knowledge, accelerate the onboarding of new innovation advisors, utilize the diverse disciplinary and professional expertise of the group, expand the common network and establish a collegial atmosphere. The results span from better advising to our researchers, students and teachers to an enhanced understanding of our role as facilitators between research results and ideas and the wider society.

At CUT we are determining ways to include and justify the inclusion of innovation in subject material for subjects not earmarked for such inclusions which is the topic of research here. This was successfully done for engineering mathematics, Art and Design Studio as well as Information Technology subjects at the Central university of Technology situated in the Free State, South Africa. As a demonstration of an innovation component inclusion the success story in the engineering mathematics subject is highlighted: Anyone who has spent time in the mathematics classroom will know that the question “where will I use this?” arises more often than in other subject fields. The inclusion of mathematics in most science-based courses is with the purpose of equipping students with the necessary tools (or techniques) to perform problem solving in other subjects. Often mathematics content exceeds what students will use during their pre graduate studies but it is included to cover what a student would probably need at post graduate level where research materials contain the worst mathematics ever! In the traditional mathematics classroom, techniques are derived and demonstrated on examples which are often just that as the lesson is about the technique and not its application. The question “where will I use this?” is usually the frustration of completing multiple examples where the technique is demonstrated. Although this aspect is important, there is another aspects of problem solving that is hardly recognised, namely the ability to identify a problem, break it down and identifying tools required from a basket of experience to solve this problem. For this reason the Mathematics software MATLAB and an innovation component was included in the mathematics classroom to turn traditional cold mathematics into a hot very much relevant subject. Students won’t remember much of the mathematics theory but they will remember the experience. The research outputs of the above initiative in the mathematics subject included a. innovation topics suited to undergraduate students – demonstrating the thinking processes involved in problem solving b.The application of the Matlab software in extending mathematics to useful science applications as apposed to being restricted to what paper calculations can deliver.
 
Overview of programme / agenda for the event: 

• Presenter 1: 15 minutes: Dr Erasmus (mellis@cut.ac.za) Solving a Real World X
• Presenter 2: 15minutes: Dr Conradie (econradie@cut.ac.za) ideaGYM support and extension to innovation inclusion to Arts and Design as well as Information Technology subjects.
• Presenter 3: 15 minutes: Dr Alexandra Bousiou (alexandra.bousiou@hv.se) , Högskolan Väst, Innovationskotor Väst - Innovation at west sweden Universities
• Discussion: 15 minutes

Organisers:
Dr Elizabeth Conradie, Idea-Generator/ i-GYM, Central University of Technology, Free State, South Africa
Dr Michelle Erasmus, Department of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Central University of Technology, Free State, South Africa
Dr Alexandra Bousiou, Grants and Innovation Office, Högskolan Väst/University WestTröllhätan, Sweden