“It is really innovative of the Hamrin Foundation to make this action research possible,” says Johan Roos, dean of JIBS, to local newspaper Jönköpings-Posten.
The aim of this initiative is to increase the visibility of JIBS, in line with the school’s new strategic priorities. With the help of an increased presence in both social and traditional media, the school will be able to quickly and effectively communicate its research to the outside world.
Traditionally, Swedish universities have been poor at living up to the “third mission”, which means that research should be accessible and useful to the public. Now, with the support of the Hamrin Foundation, JIBS will build an ambitious, long-term platform to make its research and knowledge more visible to a wider audience.
“But it’s not only about communicating research unilaterally, but also about creating and contributing to the public debate, especially within JIBS’ three broad focus areas Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Ownership,” says Johan Roos, who for the time being will lead the overall effort to increase JIBS “footprint “in society.
In the first phase, which will be led by Professor Charlotta Mellander, a handful of JIBS researchers will have the opportunity to regularly blog and tweet about their own and others’ research in the light of contemporary events and social issues. The goal is to create a visible JIBS platform that integrates academia and society and allows for a more direct dialogue in the researchers areas of expertise. Another group of researchers will measure and analyze how the project affects JIBS visibility, so that others may learn from JIBS’ development. The blog that will form the base for the first part of the project will be launched in September 2013.
“The strategy which our Board of Directors approved before Christmas includes that JIBS must expand its footprint in the community, simply put – to become more important. This donation enables us to do just that,” says Johan Roos, who also points out that the researchers at JIBS who are not directly involved in the project also have an interest and a responsibility to make JIBS’ research more visible, both in social and traditional media, as well as in other milieus.
