Head of UCN Innovation

Can you contribute to and support UCN's new strategic goals for innovation and regional impact being realised? Do you have a good view of how to create innovation in a knowledge institution, in private companies and in public organisations? Then maybe you are the one to be the head of UCN's new department, UCN Innovation! We are looking for a passionate and innovative leader with strong co-creation skills, who, based on solid knowledge of and experience with innovation in higher education and further education, can further develop our innovation efforts and strengthen UCN's role as a relevant partner and, together with the customer system, be a co-creator of regional impact. About UCN's new strategyUCN wants to strengthen students' and graduates' skills in innovative thinking and innovation as part of their education, so that they are characterized to an even greater degree than today by being development-oriented, interdisciplinary and close to practice. In addition, UCN has an ambition that innovation must be the foundation for UCN's work, both as a social actor that creates an impact in the world around us, and internally in our basic education, in further and further education as well as in research and development work. UCN's new strategy has an ambitious goal of creating a noticeable regional impact via innovation, research and development in a strengthened collaboration with the outside world. The goal is to strengthen our graduates' innovative skills and create greater impact through innovation, development and an even closer collaboration with practice. In order to realize the new ambitious goals, a new independent department for UCN Innovation is being created. About the job As head of UCN Innovation, you must work closely with the other management and the various departments and training areas in UCN to strengthen, support and develop the innovation effort. The department is interdisciplinary and supports all of UCN's educational areas. The goal is to promote an innovative culture and strengthen the work with innovation and entrepreneurship in general at UCN. In addition, the task is to build and develop innovation collaborations with North Jutland companies and organizations and thereby facilitate that UCN's students gain experience with practical and innovative processes as part of their education. At the same time, as head of UCN Innovation, you must contribute to creating fertile ground for value-creating innovation and strengthening UCN's work as a social actor. As head of the department UCN Innovation, you will be responsible for: Building and strengthening the innovative mindset across the disciplines in UCN and creating space for idea development and the dissemination of innovative methods with a view to developing an interdisciplinary innovative culture. Create a model for systematic collaboration with the education programs to integrate new thinking and innovation in teaching, so UCN's graduates become professionals with an innovative profile. Create contact with companies and public actors with a view to offering UCN as an innovation partner. Create systematics and space for the development of innovation collaborations with companies and organizations, including supporting the development of concepts for collaboration between students/employees and private companies and public institutions with a view to enriching practice with new proposed solutions. Support that students and employees can be connected with companies in innovation partnerships as part of education and/or research. Maintain - and in the long term expand - UCN's well-founded concept Next Step, so that it continues to support that even more of UCN's students receive training and guidance in starting their own business. About you as a manager You must have the desire and interest in the strategic management task of developing innovation efforts at UCN and through innovation develop and implement solutions that create value and contribute to social impact. We expect you to have solid knowledge of and experience in developing and running innovation work at the crossroads between education, research and practice. We emphasize that you are a clear communicator, have a combined strategic and business understanding and, at the same time, are able to support that the strategic ambitions are translated into concrete results in close interaction with others. It is crucial that you, as the manager of UCN Innovation, have and can build a broad contact surface and strong networks on many organizational levels, both internally and externally. You must be able to succeed in your collaboration with many different actors, both internally at UCN and with actors from the outside world and practice. You must be able to escape
support and facilitate collaboration with the various actors and ability to build and maintain strong collaborative relationships with a view to creating value, results and impact. At the same time, you must seek out new possible strategic partners and be able to see where synergy can arise. You will be a technical manager and personnel manager in UCN Innovation and will be referred to the Director of UCN Business. Recruitment processUCN has set up a recruitment committee that carries out the recruitment process and nominates a selected candidate for hiring director. The deadline for applications is 3 April 2025, and as soon as possible thereafter you will receive notification as to whether we would like to invite you for a 1st interview round. We expect to hold the first interview on 11 April 2025 and possibly second round of interviews on 22 April 2025. Personal profile tests and case responses may be included in the recruitment process. The desired joining date is 1 June 2025. Salary and terms of employment The employment takes place in accordance with the circular on agreements on the employment of managers at institutions within teaching, training and research in the area of ​​the Ministry of Education and Research. The salary is agreed in accordance with UCN's chief salary policy. Your primary place of work will be at Hobrovej in Aalborg. Further informationUCN has an informative website [link removed] Here you can e.g. read about the organisation, training programs and partners. We expect that you, as a candidate, have familiarized yourself with the website. If you have any questions about the job, you are welcome to contact Thomas Kastrup Larsen on tel. [phone removed]. All inquiries are treated confidentially. UCN wants our staff to reflect the diversity of the surrounding society, and we therefore encourage all interested parties, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, religiosity, disability and sexual orientation, to apply for the position. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The Vocational College UCN is North Jutland's largest practice-oriented educational institution with six locations in Aalborg, Hjørring and Thisted. We offer over 30 higher vocational and professional courses in pedagogy/learning, health, business and technology. We develop North Jutland through education, lifelong learning and practical research – always in close dialogue with our surroundings. We are just over 900 employees. Together, we do our best for the over 9,500 students and 9,400 course participants who have chosen us.