About HELIX

HELIX VINN Excellence Centre is a VINN Excellence Centre at Linköping University, working with questions relating to working life. The basis for our work is a partnership approach, where university, companies, public sector and labour market organisations work together in a so-called Triple Helix collaboration. "More information about the partnership". HELIX is a 10-year programme ending in 2015, and is financed by VINNOVA together with the university and other partners with a third each. HELIX conducts research, research education, support for innovation development and other activities for spreading research results.

Vision

The vision for HELIX VINN Excellence Centre can be captured by the phrase “Knowledge for Sustainable Development in Industry and Public Organizations”. This vision should be understood in perspective of our research programme, which has a strong focus on development processes in organizations (e.g. production development, competence development, health promotion).

Concerning the notion of sustainable development as used here, we make a distinction between two complementary and strongly interrelated perspectives: a process and a content perspective. In a process perspective, sustainability is about reaching long-term effects of development work (and interventions) in organizations without consuming more resources (human, social, material) than are generated or regenerated. In a content perspective, and related to our research programme, this entails a view of working life development as ideally characterized by a balance between result-orientation (e.g. in terms of effectiveness, economic growth, innovation), health, gender equality, learning and individual development. These characteristics are viewed both as important constituting factors for a sustainable working life, and as driving forces for long-term effects of different kinds of change programmes in organizations.

The relevance of our vision in a broader societal perspective is evident by the centrality of these concepts and issues in current policy debates, such as those involving most governments, the EU Commission (e.g. EU 2020), and the OECD. In line with this, our research has the potential to make an important contribution to a European model for working life development, developed in collaboration with our partners as well as with authorities and actors at a national and a transnational level.

Mission

Our mission is basically to carry out research and innovation activities that contribute significantly to scientific knowledge and, at the same time, add value to practice, that is, to strive for excellence with impact in our field of research. More specifically, we will focus on the following five research areas (knowledge clusters), which are assumed to represent important conditions and driving forces for sustainable development in organizations:

• production and organization development;
• learning for change and innovation;
• health, competence and work ability;
• new forms of organization;
• entrepreneurship and innovation.

 
On-going research projects within these areas are strongly interrelated, not least in terms of common theoretical concepts such as leadership, participation, mobility, gender equality, and work organization. Given these common knowledge interests, an important part of our mission is to strive for further integration and synergies between the research areas mentioned above, and also between:

• research;
• education and training – a graduate programme (“HELIX Graduate School”), but also contributions to relevant undergraduate courses and programmes within the university;
• activities with respect to process and product innovations as well as commercial and public service development.

Goals

The goals of the HELIX Centre in a 5 year perspective are listed below. As a result of an on-going process to establish and define a set of indicators that will be used for follow-up and evaluation purposes (see also section 7), these goals will be further elaborated and – in those cases where it is feasible – operationalized.

• To achieve a position – regionally, nationally and internationally – as a leading research and innovation centre in the field of working life research.
• To publish research in relevant, well recognized, peer-reviewed journals and books and at international conferences.
• To develop long-term research co-operation with other institutions in the field both nationally and internationally, including exchange activities for PhD-students, post-doc and senior researchers.
• Examination of a group of at least 18 doctoral students (PhD students) with a new, multi-disciplinary competence profile, and highly attractive for employment both within universities and in industry and public sector organizations.
• To accomplish and get evidence of impact in partner organizations through their participation in research projects and use of research-based knowledge in process and product innovations.
• To be a platform for commercial and/or public service development.
• To develop a strategy, including organization and the financial conditions, for a continuation of the HELIX Centre after the 10-year period has ended.

The overall strategy for research and innovation, more specific activities, and the research programme that will be carried out during Stage 3 (2011–2013) are described in the following sections of the operational plan.