Complex challenges but limited resources?

Receive solution proposals for societal and organizational challenges!
Through Openlab, you can get help from a team of qualified master’s students who dedicate an entire semester to tackling a challenge from your organization. The students gather and explore the needs of both the users and the organization, and in several stages, they develop innovative proposals and prototypes.

“We gained inspiration, ideas, and an opportunity to view our own organization with fresh eyes. An exciting and rewarding journey for which we are grateful.”

“The dedicated students analyzed our work, organization, and challenge in a way that we ourselves hadn’t been able to.”

Be part of the selection for next semester!

Openlab welcomes challenges from Region Stockholm and the City of Stockholm (administrations, units, companies, etc.) for the interdisciplinary master’s course Innovations for Societal Challenges / Challenges for Emerging Cities. The challenges should be based on the concrete needs of your organization and society, in areas where you are interested in thinking differently and/or want to find new solutions. Fill out the form at the bottom of the page to submit your challenge today!

Click on the sections below to learn more about what it means to present a challenge to the master’s course and how to formulate an effective challenge. Scroll down to access the application form.

About Openlab’s master’s course

In this multidisciplinary master’s level course, a team of qualified master’s students from different universities and disciplines dedicates 20 weeks to your challenge. Typically, four challenges are accepted per semester, with one student team per challenge. The students work with the Design Thinking method and develop prototypes and ideas based on the needs of end users and other important target groups in order to produce the best solutions. As a challenge giver, you will obtain user insights and proposed solutions in a final report as well as student presentations and dialogue with the group. The course is held in English.
All student projects are presented at the bottom of our master’s course page, where you can access previous master’s  course projects.

Your commitment
Participating as a challenge giver in the course is free of charge and open to Region Stockholm or the City of Stockholm, from unit level to administration or company level.

The commitment includes that you participate on at least three occasions during the course and act as continuous support for contacts and questions in relation to the project. You are expected to present the challenge to the students at the start of the course (January/February for spring semester or September for autumn semester) and actively

participate in concept delivery after half the semester (spring: March, autum: October) and final delivery (spring semester: May/June, autumn semester: January). The course usually has many international students and

communication with the student groups as well as presentations in the course are mainly in English.

Selection

Openlab makes a selection of incoming challenges based on the extent to which:

  • The challenge relates to Openlab’s mission to address complex societal challenges.
  • The results have the potential to be scaled up or spread.
  • The challenge is connected to the global goals and agenda 2030.
  • The challenge is anchored in the management of the organization that applies.

Tip: formulate a good challenge

  • Formulate the challenge as a question that begins with the words “How can we…”
  • Choose an area where you need to think in new ways and test solutions.
  • Identify concrete needs and a clear user/target group.
  • Don’t suggest a solution.
  • Consider the connection to the global sustainability goals.

Submit a challenge via the form

Fill out the form to submit your challenge. Challenges are accepted on an ongoing basis throughout the year. Selection for the fall and spring semesters takes place in November/December and May/June, respectively. Complete all mandatory fields to submit.

If you have any questions, please send an email to ivar.bjorkman@openlab.se.

About you

Ange vilken organisation samt enhet eller avdelning utmaningen är ifrån. Finns flera avsändare, ange samtliga.
Ange namnet på en huvudansvarig kontaktperson för utmaningen till masterkursen.
Ange telefonnummer till huvudansvarig kontaktperson.
Om det finns ytterligare kontaktpersoner för utmaningen, ange deras namn och mailadresser.

Challenge

Beskriv utmaningen, dess kontext och vem det är ett problem för. Vilka behov finns bland användarna eller i verksamheten? Ge gärna exempel på scenarion som beskriver problemet och som inbegriper brukaren/slutanvändaren. Undvik att ge förslag på lösningar.
Beskriv på vilket sätt utmaningen har koppling till de globala målen och agenda 2030, exempelvis vilka mål som berörs och hur. Koppling till globala målen är ett av urvalskriterierna.
Hur har beslutet att skicka utmaningen till Openlabs masterkurs förankrats internt i den egna organisationen? Intern förankring är ett av urvalskriterierna.
Ange personer på ledningsnivå i organisationen som informerats om eller involverats i att utmaningen skickas till Openlabs masterkurs.

Use of ideas and results

Beskriv hur ni ser på implementering av idéer och förslag från studenterna, och era möjligheter att ta in dessa i verksamheten.
Beskriv hur ni ser på uppskalning och spridning av resultaten, och era förutsättningar för det.
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