ITM Academic Development Plan

Transcription

1 ITM Academic Development Plan School of Industrial Engineering and Management KTH

2 Executive summary This development plan constitutes a one year extension to the ITM Academic Development Plan according to a rector s decision to extend all KTH development plans with one year. This 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 outstanding education, research and innovation. In terms of academic leadership, and attractive and stimulating work and study environment, ITM is a role model for the other KTH schools. Conscious and integrated strategies towards research funding have substantially increased the amount of breakthrough research. Conscious strategies for integration of technical, management and innovation disciplines have increased the attractiveness and quality of our education (from undergraduate to postgraduate) even beyond today s high standard. Our entrepreneurial innovations are recognised as an important impact factor on society, thanks to an established 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 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 ITM management should have been trained in equality and diversity by 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); KTH s 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 and gender 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 be supported 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 ITM Academic Development Plan (18)

3 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. In addition to the above main headings, a separate Specific initiatives section, covers a number of strategic School initiatives which have resulted from, and been developed under, the ITM Academic Development Plan Rationale The development plan constitutes a one year extension to the ITM Academic Development Plan according to a rector s decision to extend all KTH development plans with one year. The plan is hence not completely reworked but rather slightly updated and extended with initiatives which have been initiated and developed after the previous plan was put together. The scope of this development plan is limited to the academic activities of ITM s six Departments (Applied Mechanical 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. Setting the standard The 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 five year development plan does not outline a development in terms of prioritized subject areas for research and corresponding tenure track positions, nor does 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. Different from the previous plan, this one year extended plan introduces a number of more thematic and strategic initiatives that are expected to be important for ITM development for several years ahead. 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 rådet ITM profile and core values The 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 learn from 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. ITM Academic Development Plan (18)

4 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 worker s office should feel welcome and be struck by the good order and up to date standard of our physical and work environment. The ITM value system as adopted by School management in April 2016: The ITM School has a value system based on democracy, equality, human rights and freedom, free speech and open discussion. Gender equality and rejection of all forms of discrimination raises both the quality of our institution and our working environment, and is therefore an integral part of ITM's core values. equal treatment in terms of rights, conditions, opportunities and obligations, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, gender, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability, social background, sexual orientation or age. Important corner stones for ITM s continued development are that diversity, equality and equal treatment are important in order to develop ITM as an attractive and successful workplace where everyone is given opportunities to develop and to contribute to good results. that education and research can and should contribute to better living conditions and a peaceful society, and meet the requirements of ecological, social and economic sustainability. As part of a leading technical university, the ITM School has a special responsibility to develop the knowledge needed to promote such sustainable development. The development plan as a tool The 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 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. To KTH management in particular Each 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 ITM Academic Development Plan (18)

5 funding for research/research education and funding for undergraduate and graduate education. At present, the ITM School has a low such ratio compared to other KTH Schools and to KTH as a whole. 2. Attractive working environment and skilled academic leadership 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 Main challenges, opportunities and prioritized areas A 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 openness, 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 among 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 on societal challenges, 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 vision The 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 activities As evident from 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. ITM Academic Development Plan (18)

6 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, in particular in response to needs identified in co worker investigations. 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 putting more effort into identifying 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 School s strong experimental facilities, something not addressed sufficiently in the last RAE. Goals against which to evaluate progress Leadership training. Each person employed as a leader for a school, department, division or program should have taken at least one course or participated in a leadership workshop given by the ITM school to improve their leadership skills before Preferably, all department heads should have done this by the end of 2014, and all unit heads by the end of The ITM management group 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. New leaders should within the first year participate in academic leadership courses arranged by KTH. Working environment. The personnel s opinion regarding the physical and psychosocial work environment should be gathered regularly from 2013 to Each evaluation should result in an action plan with specific targets to be met before the following year s evaluation. The situation for PhD students on scholarships should be 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. ITM has created a group focusing on the physical and psychosocial work environment with responsible persons for the following areas: inflammable products, fire protection safety, chemicals, psychosocial issues, crises and wellness activities. In this group, the ITM safety representative also participates. The purpose of the group is to continuously work on improving the physical and psychosocial work environment. 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 appropriate 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 2017 our goal is that 25 % of the ITM faculty should be female (as opposed to 20 % in 2013). 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 Academic Development Plan (18)

7 Internationalization. In % of ITM faculty have gained experience of at least one year abroad. The ITM management should devise strategies and principles to support faculty interested in spending time at foreign universities. Such exchange can and should be encouraged in relation to both education and research. 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 education The KTH development plan puts forward a number of priority areas for the period 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. The education at ITM Almost 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 CDIO 1 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) vision Building on the existing strengths as listed above, the ITM 2020 education vision is: ITM s education is characterized by supreme quality and a distinct identity formed by excellent students and committed teachers. ITM offers among the best engineering programs in Europe through individual centred learning in innovative teaching environments. ITM demonstrates a sustainable campus, with a creative, innovative, attractive and accessible environment. ITM educates engineers for global impact both students and teachers have international experience which affects curricula and recruitment. Recruitment There are a number of issues which affect the composition of our student body. Overall, the ITM degree programmes 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 two of the five MSc degree 1 CDIO Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate A pedagogy training the professional skills in communication, engineering, team and project work, innovation and entrepreneurship and sustainable development ITM Academic Development Plan (18)

8 programmes are characterized by gender balance, there is a general need for the School to recruit more female undergraduates. We conclude that it is important to revise the educational programs from gender and equality viewpoints to make the programs attractive for both genders. Further, working with the student sections regarding gender and diversity issues will also contribute to a more equal study environment. 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 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. With introduction of the new Master of Science in Engineering program in Södertälje Campus in 2016, a new Bachelor of Science in Engineering in 2017, a new Technology Elementary School Teacher/ Bachelor of Science in 2018 and a Master of Industrial Technology and Sustainability in 2019 the number of students in the campus should be doubled by 2020 as compared with 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. Retention and throughput With 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. The goals regarding retention and throughput at ITM for the period are to: Increase the number of issued degrees (B.Sc. in Engineering and M.Sc. in Engineering) to comply with the goal set by KTH. Increase the retention and study results for the students in year 1 through a more fully developed academic introduction (for example study techniques). Improve the study and social environment for the students with a focus on creativity, improved access 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 Actively work on increasing the quality of the educational programs with respect to content, examination and evaluation. Act to ensure that each student feels welcome, appreciated, heard and respected regardless of background, gender or impairment. Internationalization The 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, and we have during reached a balance with the number of outgoing students. The ambition is also to encourage teaching staff to spend time abroad and fetch impression from education and courses at other universities. The goals regarding internationalization at ITM for the period are to: ITM Academic Development Plan (18)

9 Establish a more clear strategy for how to develop our international exchange and collaboration within education. This may for example include identification of a number of sister universities with which we may establish deeper relations (e.g. implementing international specializations, exchange semesters and joint applications for funding of EU level programs) 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 Engineering The 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 fight poverty 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 , 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 are: All programs (except Technical Preparatory Year) should during the first year have at least one introduction which explicitly examines the topic of sustainable development. All programs should have at least one integrated element of sustainable development per year within its 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. Gender Issues It is highly important that the graduated engineers from our programs are well prepared to meet the challenges in achieving an excellent work environment where they have knowledge and tools to handle gender issues which may arise. All programs (both in first and second cycle) should have at least one activity addressing gender issues during the first year. ITM will work with the student union branches to further develop the reception of new students to the educational programs with respect to ethics. This includes, for example, gender issues, elimination of discrimination of all kinds, attitude to alcohol, diversity and accessibility. Also introduction of more academic activities during the reception is encouraged. 4. Towards excellence in research and research education With regards to research, the overarching goals of the KTH development plan are to strengthen KTH s position as 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 ITM The 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 ITM Academic Development Plan (18)

10 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 the ITM 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 group o Increase number of publications, increase citations o Integrate professors in undergraduate education to a larger extent Research environment o Secure a sound research environment at each department o Rejuvenation of faculty and improved recruitment o Balance work load in the short and long term Research Education o 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 School wherever appropriate o Secure appropriate support, including efficient supervision for doctoral students, in order to keep an effective throughput of PhDs. Mobility and collaboration o Increase mobility with industry and with academia in national and international arenas o Increase collaboration within the ITM School Funding o Develop and apply conscious strategies for attaining research funding Infrastructure o Secure and maintain up to date experimental laboratories with relevance for research and industrial assignments 2020 vision The vision of ITM Research and Research Education is: World class research groups producing high quality results with a well documented positive impact in society, arising from ITM s provision of a creative and positive environment that enables our employees to thrive in their professional assignments. Strategically devised funding of research leads to breakthrough research. The ITM School is attractive for employment, collaboration, mobility and visits. Development activities A 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 ITM Academic Development Plan (18)

11 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 environment should be borne out by the improved quality of research results within every research group. The same emphasis must also be given to the School s 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 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 and Research 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 KTH s 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 KTH s position with regard to innovation are specified as: ITM Academic Development Plan (18)

12 Through a well developed communication strategy for research and innovation, KTH's achievements in those areas should be made visible. Interaction should take place at several levels and among a variety of partners, e.g. large and small businesses, organizations and agencies at the national, regional and local levels. Alliances of various kinds between KTH and other universities and research institutes is encouraged and expected to leverage education and research and to stimulate more discoveries. Both physical and virtual environments should be created to stimulate innovation, and flexible modes to 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 ITM Innovation 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), ICES (Innovative Centre for Embedded Systems) and INNO Energy (EIT KIC). Main challenges, opportunities and prioritized areas A 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. 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 ITM s different activities and functions vision The 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 to foster a stronger entrepreneurial and innovative culture. ITM Academic Development Plan (18)

13 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 activities We 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 of our 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, startups 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 an entrepreneurial 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 ITM education, 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. The understanding of the mechanisms and consequences of globalization should constitute a natural part 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 be established as a joint effort with KTH Innovation, and in conjunction with rebuilding, restoring and modernizing the Brazilia quarters towards a more integrated, creative and lively innovation environment for students, staff and start up enterprises. Building a structure to promote innovation and entrepreneurship 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 advisory board 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. ITM Academic Development Plan (18)

14 Goals against which to evaluate progress Above 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 a regular 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 to measure 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. Promoting structures Develop structures to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship. 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 motivation could be a milder form of the Dragon s nest the possibility to present an idea 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 measurable targets. 6. Specific initiatives The KTH initiative focusing Sustainable Industrial Production 2 KTH, the ITM School, and especially the department of Applied Mechanics are undertaking a large commitment focusing on Sustainable Industrial Production encompassing new educational programs and a new research environment. In detail, the commitment encompass a major expansion with a significant increase in number of students, recruitment of researchers for the research organization to be established, and a move of the department of Applied Mechanics to a new attractive campus in the northern city centre of Södertälje. This development complements and strengthens existing education and research at KTH. In this effort, KTH is strongly supported by Scania, AstraZeneca, Södertälje Municipality, Acturum and the Stockholm County Administrative Board in this effort. In the spring of 2014 the stakeholders approached the Swedish Government about a competence node focused on sustainable industrial production. A positive decision was received from the Government in the form of additional study places (600) and increased faculty appropriation (10MSEK/year). In addition the stakeholders (including KTH) add approximately 200 MSEK during the years The close collaboration with Scania and AstraZeneca, two companies with 2 ITM Academic Development Plan (18)