Professor

Kari Håvåg Voldsund

HVL Business School
Kari Håvåg Voldsund
Tel: +47 55 58 77 13
Email: Send email
Bergen
KRONSTAD E228
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Field of work

I have extensive experience in innovation, entrepreneurship, business understanding, and the development of business ideas and models. My work also includes change and project management, economics, development work, creative processes, as well as supervision and mentoring.

Over several years in the private sector, I have held positions as Product Manager, Key Account Manager, and Project Manager. I have also been an entrepreneur myself and have guided a number of startups.

In addition to teaching and course development, I am committed to interdisciplinary learning arenas that connect different professions and academic fields. Business understanding and practice-oriented approaches are central to my teaching. I am also the author of the book Forretningsforståelse, which addresses the journey from startup to long-term operations.

In 2023, I was awarded the status of Excellent Teaching Practitioner at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL).

My research focuses on how entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial education can foster creativity, innovation, and new approaches to learning in academia and society. I am particularly interested in how peer mentoring and interdisciplinary collaboration can support the development of new solutions, and how innovation can be understood both as value innovation and user innovation. At the same time, I explore how sustainability and the circular economy can be integrated into education, business models, and practice-oriented learning.

I participate in several development and research projects at HVL and in international collaborations. The SUNECO project explores the role of universities as ecosystem actors in South Africa and Norway, while the Artemis Alliance develops future-oriented education, mobility, and cooperation across European universities. In the ETI Labs project, we study innovation labs and university–business cooperation. I am also involved in the development of a flexible programme in Industrial Economics and Technology Management (HK-dir project), as well as HVL’s internal Business School project. Previously, I took part in strategic initiatives aimed at increasing external funding for lifelong learning (continuing education at HVL).

Courses taught
  • INN524, Innovation in cross-disciplinary student team, Fall 2025

Publications

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