Phases of Co-Production

Mälardalen Univerity is characterised by its close collaboration with companies and with the public sector in the region. A main strategic directions of the university is to develop co-production with partner companies, expressed in the university vision “A Strong MDH – the Coproducing University”. The concept ’co-production’ is in this paper used interchangeably with concept ’co-creation’, emphasising our view of equal participation and interaction with the goal of knowledge, that by the company can be made useful outside the university (see Terblanche, 2014). Based on Mälardalen University’s vision, co-production is a main goal for the Innovation and Product Realization (IPR) environment. IPR is located at the School of Innovation, Design and Engineering and has a common graduate education with three mutually supportive cooperating research groups: Product realization, Innovation management, and Information design. Here ideas from different fields and cultures meet, creating new ideas, possibilities, and knowledge as a result. The approach to develop new insights and knowledge in order to address societal challenges, through working closer between academics and research users, has a potential to improve how research is conducted. Still, there are many questions and challenges in this approach, with need of development: How is research and research education framed and undertaken? What constitutes co-production? What distinguishes reseach in co-production from other forms of research? What are the benefits and barriers of co-production? As we shall see, the follow-up research aim to contribute to how our third level education in a co-production environment can be undertaken.