Entrepreneurship and Economics for Sustainable Societies 10 credits

In this course, you will explore entrepreneurship as a transformative economic force, examining how entrepreneurs act as agents of change by mobilising resources, disrupting markets, introducing innovations, and driving long-term technological and structural change. Drawing on economic insights from innovation, competition, and growth theory, you will understand the entrepreneur’s role at both the micro and macro levels — from individual venture creation to wider economic transformation. Sustainability challenges serve as the unifying theme through which you will explore the opportunities and responsibilities of entrepreneurship. Using frameworks such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and planetary boundaries, you will examine how environmental, social, and economic dimensions interact to create both constraints and opportunities for entrepreneurial action. You will analyse why sustainability challenges persist by exploring market failures, collective action problems, and misaligned incentives, and investigate how entrepreneurial innovation and well-designed economic policies can drive sustainable and systemic change. Throughout the course, you will develop an entrepreneurial mindset recognising opportunities under uncertainty, understanding strategic trade-offs, and navigating the broader responsibilities of value creation in society. By the end of the course, you will have a solid understanding of how entrepreneurial action, economic reasoning, and institutional and policy environments work together to create lasting societal value. The course equips you with analytical tools and practical insights to think as both an analyst and a change-maker.