03 March, 2020

On March 3rd, the Hincks Centre and the CPEER Seminar Series welcomed Professor Andreas Sonning and Dr Rob Worrall to the Nimbus Centre. CPEER is the Community of Practice for Entrepreneurship Educators and Researchers. As part of the activities on the second day of Innovation Week 2020, the event attracted a diverse group of attendees from different faculties across CIT. Both Professor Sonning and Dr Worrall delivered two great presentations on entrepreneurship and innovation and also on collaboration and leadership. The presentations were followed by an open discussion on how we can include these topics as part of our teaching.

Professor Sonning is a senior lecturer in the Norwegian Academy of Music and a visiting professor to several universities and conservatories in Norway and across Europe. Since 2000, he has been a part of building and running several EU funded networks for renewing higher music education and implementing innovation and entrepreneurial projects on a transversal basis.

Professor Sonning spoke about building value chains for the performing arts and the challenges and possibilities that may arise during their implementation in higher education. Firstly, he explained the different types of production concepts and how hybrid productions bring additional value to performances and individual artists. He then spoke about entrepreneurship and the significance of artists not only developing their artistic skills but also developing skills to become musical or cultural entrepreneurs.

Model for production of cultural programs in internal value chains and workshops

Dr Worrall is an award winning and highly experienced academic, researcher and consultant in leadership, collaboration and innovation. His cutting-edge practice-based PhD research has been highly impactful in developing the collaborative capability of local leaders working on complex challenges such as urban violence in Kenya, Uganda and Guatemala.

Throughout the event he shared his experiences in these countries, the way in which developing leaders enable social innovation and how these ideas can be included in teaching. He explained the difference between leader development (intrapersonal) and leadership development (interpersonal). He also described the MST-SC model, a model developed by Dr Worrall himself to produce effective actions and community development.