General provisions

​The course is offered within Master's Programme in Sociotechnical Systems Engineering. The course syllabus was approved by the Faculty of Science and Technology.

Entry requirements

120 credits within the Master's Programme in Sociotechnical Systems Engineering. Independent Project within Sociotechnical Systems Engineering.

Learning outcomes

This course prepares participants for a future career as entrepreneurs and founders of new companies. They gain general and practical insights into those aspects of running a business that are particularly salient during the early development of a new company. By the end of the course, participants will understand some of the most common challenges involved in starting a company or launching a new business venture within an established organisation.

On completion of the course the student shall be able to:

• explain the fundamental pre-conditions for entrepreneurship,
• design a business plan and effectively communicate and "sell" new business concepts to other people,
• distinguish between different sources of financing and explain which best fit the requirements of the new entrepreneurial venture,
• perform an environmental analysis and formulate a business strategy for the new venture that can be communicated to external stakeholders,
• explain what it means to launch and develop new business ventures inside established corporations.

Content

The Entrepreneurship course has a distinctly practical orientation. Discussions are carried out about real-life cases to identify and deal with common problems and challenges during the early start-up phase. Analytical models and tools are applied to issues such as selling and marketing new products and services, financing the growing firm, environmental analysis and business strategy, and entrepreneurship inside the established corporation.

Instruction

The course is taught in English. Lectures (introduce organising frameworks and analytical tools), guest lectures (active entrepreneurs and prominent practitioners share their business experiences and insights with the course participants) and discussions around real-life business cases.

Assessment

The examination consists of an individual written exam and oral and written assignments, carried out both individually and in groups. The grade for the entire course is based on an assessment of all parts of the examination.

Grading criteria are presented in the study guide that applies to the course section. Examinations handed in late will not be assessed except under special circumstances. Any remaining supplemental work must be handed in by the deadline specified in the study guide.

For students who have not received a passing grade for the course, the entire course (including all examinations) will have to be redone during subsequent course sections.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.

Uppsala University does not accept cheating or plagiarism. Suspected incidents of cheating or plagiarism are reported to the Vice-Chancellor, which may issue a formal warning to the student or suspend the student from studies for a certain period.

NOTE: Only completed courses can count toward a degree.

Other directives

The course overlaps/substitutes the following courses in Entrepreneurship: 2FE012, 2FE026, 2FE031, 2FE105, 2FE623, 8FE623.