ANNOUNCE: Call for applications: Entrepreneurship PhD project in Sustainability, double Degree Program in Europe, starting Sept. 2016

[entrepreneurship-phd at lists.uni-due.de]

From: Podoynitsyna, K.S. [mailto:K.S.Podoynitsyna at tue.nl] 
Date: Mon 9 Nov 2015 17:04


We are looking for applicants for the SELECT+ doctoral programme. The overall objective of SELECT+ is to advance leadership, industrial practice, innovation and entrepreneurship in the energy field. One of the projects takes an entrepreneurship perspective and focuses on managing commercialization of innovative energy technologies by new ventures. Depending on the applicant's background and interest, different avenues for research are possible. We specifically encourage current and recent MSc students from outside of Europe to apply, as international experience is highly valued in the consortium. 

A possible entrepreneurship PhD project with the SELECT+ programme could be the following. 

PhD project in the field of entrepreneurship  

To successfully commercialize sustainable innovations, new ventures have to understand consumer concerns, carefully examine product life cycles and combine marketing skills with their expertise in scaling up supply, manufacturing and distribution. Central to these challenges is thus the ability to learn and acquire new knowledge and integrate that knowledge in new technologies, products, and business models. As these ventures typically operate in an environment characterized by high levels of uncertainty, they face a difficult time determining the most effective commercialization strategy and business model. Remaining flexible, taking advantage of environmental contingencies and learning as they go is thus of the most importance to be successful. The objective of the project could thus be to explore which ventures are most effective in learning and what the underlying drivers of their learning and experimentation behaviors are. To address this overarching research question, a number of specific research questions arise. First, using a qualitative approach, the project explores how new ventures acquire new knowledge and resources and how this affects their decisions. Second, given the importance of collaboration with ecosystem partners, the project could explore the firm and founding team level antecedents of entering in and benefitting from these partnerships. Finally, the project investigates how the internal learning through experimentation and external learning from partners affects venture performance. 

Candidates should have obtained a MSc degree in a relevant academic discipline (e.g. Industrial Engineering, Innovation Management, Strategic Management, Research Master in Business) by the start of the next PhD intake (September 2016) and should have proof of English proficiency. The SELECT+ doctoral programme is an international programme implying that the candidate will spend 3 years at the home university and 1 year at a host university within the consortium. The candidate will receive a double degree from the two participating universities. In case TU/e is involved for this entrepreneurship project, the PhD candidate will be placed within the ITEM group: http://www.item-eindhoven.org/ 

What do we offer: 

We offer a stimulating, dynamic and ambitious research environment, with strong connections to the SMEs and large corporations in the Brainport Eindhoven ecosystem. 

The duration of PhD candidate position is 4 years. We offer a competitive salary and attractive social security benefits.  In addition, PhD candidates at TU/e receive holiday and end of year allowance. Former Ph.D students obtained very successful job market records, both in the academic and private sector. 


Interested?
. More information regarding the SELECT+ consortium can be found on www.exploreselect.eu
. More information about how to apply can be found on http://www.exploreselect.eu/SELECTPhD/Howtoapply/tabid/1271/language/en-GB/Default.aspx
. For questions about the programme in general you can send an email to selectplus at kth.se, for specific questions regarding the entrepreneurship PhD project as part of Select Plus please contact Dr. Annelies Bobelyn (A.S.A.Bobelyn at tue.nl )