Partnerships, society and business
Through close cooperation and collaboration with society and business life we can develop relevant study courses and programmes that contributes to shaping people and businesses for an international, digital and sustainable future.
A business-oriented and socially relevant BI
In 2022, BI's new management clarified the school's ambitions for closer contact with society and business. BI has further developed and created new arenas for interaction with relevant partners and alums.
BI was present at several important social arenas for research dissemination and contact with business, such as Arendalsuka, the ONS Conference in Stavanger and the Oslo Business Forum. Through participation in these arenas, BI strengthens its position as a social actor and creates new business cooperation opportunities.
BI is a member of several chambers of commerce and cluster organisations such as The Life Science Cluster, GCE Ocean Technology, Norway Health Tech, The Seafood Innovation Cluster and D-Box. The purpose is to build networks and be present in arenas where social development is discussed.
BI worked in 2022 to establish an education fund and a research fund. These funds aim for businesses and individuals to develop even stronger contact with BI and contribute with support for research projects and student activities.
Relevant courses and programmes
The close dialogue with business helps to ensure relevant insight into working life and the development of the school's courses, programs and other activities. This aligns with the government's ambitions for increased relevance in higher education.
Through 2022, BI has arranged several meetings with various companies and industry organisations to get input on different innovation processes for courses and programmes. In addition, during 2022, BI has established several Programme Advisory Councils for our bachelor's and master's studies, where the members provide feedback to ensure that the study programs meet relevant competence needs in working life. BI now has a total of 25 programme councils.
An example of student activity that creates business relevance is the Master Merit Society, where talented master's students are connected with selected business partners. In 2022, Accenture and Gjensidige joined as partners. In addition, the collaboration partners are connected in other relevant activities open to all BI's bachelor's and master's students.
BI's Career Portal is an important tool for linking businesses, students and alums together, where companies can advertise vacancies and students can find their internship positions. In 2022, 2,500 positions were published, and 7,500 unique student and alums users logged into the portal.
Close contact with business through alum
BI Alumni is a global network of 200,000 former students from over 80 countries who have completed a degree at BI. Our former BI students are our most important ambassadors in Norway and abroad.
BI's former students actively contribute back to BI by, for example, speaking at graduations, participating in podcasts, providing insight into working life and arranging internships for BI's students. Several hundred alums contributed back to BI through such activities in 2022.
Årsrapport 2022
The most engaged alums sit as members of the Alumni Advisory Board, where former students with solid business connections should be represented. In 2022, the board met twice and gave input on digitising studies and sustainability issues in courses and programmes.
During 2022, it became possible to hold physical events again, and e-mail invitations were sent out to over 100 of BI's open events. In addition, BI facilitated a dozen events aimed explicitly at alums.
The Leader’s Toolbox 10th anniversary
A concrete example of BI's strategic and long-term research dissemination and alums work is the popular lecture series Lederens verktøykasse (The Leader's Toolbox). Throughout 2022, BI's researchers have presented relevant research on various management topics to several thousand participants. 2022 was also an extra special year when Lederens Verktøykasse celebrated its 10th anniversary.
Digitalisation of alum communication
BI works actively to create the best digital alum experience. In 2022, BI dedicated project funds to improving BI's alum data, and the project will be carried out during 2023. More accurate communication will provide more pointed information to former students and increase alum engagement.
Partnerforum
Partnerforum is a collaboration between BI, the University of Oslo and 21 partners from the government administration. Competence development and networking across subjects and sectors are central to the collaboration, where the goal is to develop and share knowledge within relevant and current topics for employees in the state administration. In 2022, 19 events were held, with over 100 presenters and around 5,500 participants, within themes such as democratic challenges, EEA law, future skills needs and coordination in the state. In addition, BI shares its research with public administration.
BI Corporate
The corporate department works with value-creating deliveries to the public and private sectors. In 2022, BI Corporate delivered 41 projects with a turnover of just under NOK 101 million, compared to just under NOK 90 million the previous year.
Corporate clients want long-term partners for change, innovation, value creation and process-based problem solving where practice weighs the most. In recent years, BI has secured national positions in education management, health management, tax and excise law and security management.
Within the school and nursery sector, BI has assignments on several national and regional programs until 2025. In the past year, we completed the first batch of four new national programs for school and kindergarten managers commissioned by the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training. BI also gained renewed confidence in starting a programme for educational leaders in kindergartens commissioned by Oslo municipality.
In 2022, class three started the senior management programme for the health sector. At the closing meeting for class two, the Minister of Health and Care, Ingvild Kjerkol, was invited and engaged in a speech and discussion with the top managers. A new programme was incorporated for the eighth batch of the national management training for the primary health care service. The Service Development Management programme was launched as a supplement to the portfolio. There were three classes of the programme aimed at the general practitioner service in 2022.
The top management programme Horisont is specially designed for Veidekke's 150 top managers. In 2022, we finished batch one and started batch two. In addition, management development programs for OBOS, PWC, the Institute of Energy Technology and Maritime Bergen were to begin in 2022. Thus, BI is strengthening its position within construction, construction, real estate, and the maritime sector.
With the The Norwegian Tax Administration (Skattetaten) as a partner and client, BI has, for the past twelve years, offered a very popular master's degree in tax law. Our master's with specialisation in security management also have a steady influx of students. The long-standing collaboration with NorgesGruppen and Coop continues. In 2022, they bought back programmes in negotiations and retail economics. Corporate has succeeded with the strategy and, in 2022, created strong growth in programmes in collaboration with the private sector.
Innovation programmes, scaling and restructuring
Since 2004, the academic environment at BI has developed unique expertise in innovation processes internally in large companies and for smaller, growing companies. That includes how technology companies can grow in major international markets. We have translated this into scaling programs for Norwegian technology companies since 2018. Through the work, BI has distinguished itself as a leader in Norway within this area. Several innovation companies, clusters and technology environments request this activity from BI. As we advance, we aim to find sustainable forms of cooperation and sufficient deliveries to develop and strengthen the activity.
Through BI Startup, BI students gain competence in entrepreneurship, guidance and a link to the ecosystem for innovation. BI Startup is developing strongly and today has over 60 registered members who are part of the project.
BI Startup worked in 2022 to create a foundation that enables more students to use the offer. In 2022, the BI Startup Roadshow and Extreme Tech Challenge were carried out. The roadshow is an event on all campuses that challenges students to present their ideas and where the best idea from each campus participates in a final in Oslo.
Research that creates change
BI's researchers develop research at an international top level, contributing to society's development. Our researchers are an important voice in the social debate, and during 2022 several have participated in councils and committees and received awards and research funds. Here are some examples from the past year:
Guri Hjeltnes was appointed Knight 1st Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav based on her many years of work promoting knowledge of occupation war history, particularly in war sailors, the Holocaust, anti-Semitism and extremism. Hjeltnes is a professor at the Department of Communication and Culture.
Sven Klingler, associate professor at the Department of Finance, received funding from the European Research Council's Starting Grant of 1.5 million euros for his research project on frictions between lenders and borrowers in the financial market.
Genaro Sucarrat, associate professor at the Department of Economics, was appointed Oslo Ambassador by the Oslo Convention Bureau. The aim is to bring more international conferences to the capital.
Per Espen Stoknes was admitted as a full Club of Rome think tank member. This gives BI access to a solid international network of experts and champions of sustainable development. Stoknes is an associate professor at the Department of Leadership and Organisational Behaviour.
The Research Council allocated NOK 2.7 million to three research groups at BI, within the themes of employment law, regulations for IT security and EU legislation. The funds will create and operate national and international research networks contributing to new and innovative legal research.
Shipowner Tom Wilhelmsen's foundation awarded BI NOK 11.7 million for research into maritime industries. The foundation continued funding its endowed professorship to Professor Randi Lunnan for a new 5-year period and establishing a new doctoral scholarship.
Anders Gustafsson, research professor at the Department of Marketing, was appointed to the American Marketing Association (AMA) board in July 2022. The AMA is a non-profit organisation and one of the world's largest and most recognised marketing organisations.
BI researcher, Gilbert Kofi Adarkwah, became part of the Advisory Council of the prestigious journal Harvard Business Review. Adarkwah is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Strategy and Entrepreneurship.
The Center for Advanced Study (CAS) awarded Professor Fabian Andsem Harang at the Department of Economics funding for the research project Signatures for images. The project brings together experts from different parts of the mathematics field, nationally and internationally. Research professor Espen R. Moen and associate professor Plamen T. Nenov were awarded the Hicks-Tinbergen prize 2022 for their article "Buying First or Selling First in Housing Markets" in the Journal of the European Economic Association. Moen and Nenov both work at the Department of Economics.