IIP Swedish Lapland
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | AB Centek vid Luleå tekniska universitet |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 320 000 |
| Project duration | April 2012 - March 2013 |
| Status | Completed |
Purpose and goal
The projects aim was to explore the possibility of strengthening Luleå University attractiveness to prospective PhD-students (so they do not move from the area after graduation) and also to be able to attract more ´innovative top students´ to become graduate students at LTU. The hypothesis was that this could be achieved by offering these students an entrepreneurship practice in the world´s most entrepreneurial regions. The fulfillment of parts of the project goal is good. The initial activities have shown a great interest in this kind of practice (7% of the target population).
Results and expected effects
The project was intended to create a unique offer that makes it possible for LTU to (an even greater extent) secure innovative top students to become graduate students at the university. As the project unfortunately did not get continued funding after the initial pilot study, we conclude that: - A unique offer was created - 7% of the audience was actively interested - The practice could not be implemented so we do not know how it could have affected the university
Approach and implementation
The arrangement with the initial feasibility study trips in both the U.S. and Europe (Switzerland) was correct. On these trips emerged both difficulties with the planned practice (the majority of which could be taken care of) but also new values were created which without these study trips not hade been possible. The planned recruitment layup with emphasis on preparatory activities were also correct. It turned out, however, that many PhD-students may find it difficult to finance their own working hours during a practice - something that we had not predicted as a problem.