Shift entrepreneurship is a cross-faculty program organized by the School of Business and Law and the faculty of science and engineering at the University of Agder. Shift is also a part of Center of Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation (CESI). We work towards building a more entrepreneurial culture in and beyond the Agder region. Read more about Shift’s vision and history, and the CESI below.

Shift’s vision

In order for the world to meet UN’s sustainability goals, a shift is required. We need to change the way we produce, consume, and dispose. We need to change the way we treat each other, ourselves, and our planet. At Shift, we believe in entrepreneurship as a tool to tackle the world’s challenges. We believe that the people and firms able to spot and realize the opportunities inherent in this shift will be the change agents the world needs. Thus, Shift’s vision is to educate responsible change agents.

Centre for Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation

Shift entrepreneurship is a part of Centre for Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation (CESI) at the University of Agder. CESI promotes entrepreneurship and innovation through research, education, and inititatives such as Nyskaping and CoLAB. Nyskaping helps researchers and students with commercialization and business development. CoLAB enables social innovation by connecting Agder residents, students, researchers, public and private organizations in order to solve societal challenges. CESI was established in 2003 and thus has years of experience in educating entrepreneurs and innovators.

Shift’s history

The work that eventually resulted in Shift entrepreneurship was kicked off in August 2017. We started out with a workshop involving entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship scholars from top institutions such as Aalto ventures program, Tech Ranch Austin, and Oslo School of Architecture and Design. Based on two days of dreaming about world-class entrepreneurship education we ended up with a minimum viable program. The MVP was presented to potential students, experienced entrepreneurs, and various stakeholders in Agder’s entrepreneurial ecosystem in order for us to revise and improve the program based on their feedback. Further adjustments were made based on trips to NTNU’s school of entrepreneurship, Stanford’s D-school, MIT’s Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship, and CERN. Consequently, when Shift entrepreneurship was approved by UiA’s university board in June 2019, the university said yes to a program that had been co-created by CESI, UiA School of Business and Law and the Faculty of science and engineering, together with students, entrepreneurs, and researchers from Agder and around the world.

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