DATA3740 IT-Innovation and entrepreneurship project Course description

The entrepreneurship project: The student will carry out an IT project in collaboration with a relevant start-up company, individually or in groups of maximum five students. Completion of the course requires a placement in an IT start-up company corresponding to two days a week over a 12-week period. If the project is carried out during the summer, the work must correspond to four days a week over a six-week period.

OsloMet will help individual or groups of students to get in touch with a start-up company that has a suitable project. The company must provide an approved IT entrepreneurship project and a competent supervisor. Furthermore, OsloMet will provide an internal supervisor at OsloMet. The students will develop a prototype for a product that is relevant for the start-up company, or develop and implement new functionality in the technology of the start-up company.

In addition to the projects on offer, students can find their own projects within a relevant company, public organization or nonprofit. In this case, it is the student's responsibility to find a supervisor for the project within the external organization. All student-initiated projects must be approved by a supervisor at OsloMet before the start of the project. 

Start-up is dependent on a sufficient number of students registering for the course.

The course builds on computer science courses from the first year of the programme. 

No requirements over and above the admission requirements.

After completing the course, the student is expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and competence:

Knowledge

The student:

• has become familiar with key issues relating to innovation and entrepreneurship
• understands business processes and organisational structures in a start-up company
• has acquired a basic overview of financing and support possibilities for start-up companies
• has acquired insight into innovation processes and technological development from idea to prototype
• understand the role and importance of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals in the development of new technological solutions.

Skills

The student is capable of:

• developing a product or service from the idea, design and development stages through to implementation and evaluation of a prototype
• independently completing an IT project within the framework of a start-up company and mastering basic issues that characterise entrepreneurship processes
• communicating, in written and oral form, the technical and business-related issues of relevance to the theme of the project, including the project plan, project activities and results, to an audience that may or may not be technologically proficient
• develop new solutions that explicitly address one or several of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals

General competence

The student is capable of:

• using technical principles to solve one or more problems of relevance to the business sector
• defining a problem and proposing possible innovative solutions
• evaluating the importance of organisational dynamics and work relations in start-up companies

Supervision sessions with an internal and external supervisor. The students will work alone or in groups of two to five students on an IT project in a start-up company.

The course starts with a compulsory introductory session.

Start-up companies will be recruited through existing networks. These companies offer concrete project proposals that are evaluated and quality assured by OsloMet and selected external resources. The students will be assigned to concrete projects based on suitability and interests. All projects must have an internal and external supervisor.

The following coursework is compulsory and must be approved before the student can take the exam:

• The course starts with a compulsory introductory session.
• A project outline that describes how the group will organise their work on the project.
• A standard learning agreement must be entered into between the start-up company and the student(s), and this must be approved by the internal supervisor before the project can begin.
• Three minutes of meetings from the supervision meetings held during the project period.

The deadline for submitting the project outline and the minutes of the meetings will be presented in the teaching plan, which is made available at the beginning of the semester.

A portfolio exam consisting of:

1. A written project report, individual or in groups (max 5 students), 3000 words +/-10%

2. An oral presentation, individual or in groups (max 5 students), 10 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A

The exam result cannot be appealed.

The portfolio is assessed as a whole and given a single grade, but both the project report and the oral presentation must be passed in order for the portfolio to receive a grade E or higher. 

For group projects, all members of the group receive the same grade. Under exceptional circumstances, individual grades can be assigned at the discretion of the project supervisor(s) and Head of Studies.

All aids are permitted, as long as the rules for source referencing are complied with.

Grade scale A-F.

Two internal examiners. External examiners are used regularly.