Master of Science in Knowledge-Based Entrepreneurship
Summary
“A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” – John A. Sedd
Our programme reflects Sedd’s sentiment by not only providing scientific and practical knowledge, but training you to confidently turn ideas into business opportunities, drive entrepreneurship for yourself and within a firm, and use your personal and professional skills to turn knowledge into practice. You will enhance your entrepreneurial ability and increase your knowledge of how to identify, capture, and create value for industry and society.
About
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney
Disney’s words underline the spirit of our programme, which will inspire you to follow your entrepreneurial and innovative ideas through to fruition. We aim to develop and train entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs with strong analytical and creative abilities and the experience to handle complex knowledge areas and markets.
An integrative, international, and interactive approach
Much of your work is done in teams where skills in collaboration and project leadership are practied. A variety of disciplines are needed to build new ventures or business areas in companies. Your teammates will have complementary international background, in economics, business, engineering, natural sciences, and law, providing first-hand experience of how different perspectives and competencies complement each other in complex real-life business situations. By increasing knowledge of the interfaces between these subjects, you will acquire a more profound understanding for the skills and tools needed in your profession. As such, we prepare you for a career working with entrepreneurship—at an entrepreneurship centre, a government agency, or a company dealing with entrepreneurial firms or activities.
Additionally, the student group you will become a part of is dynamic and international which gives you a global network of contacts.
Hands-on learning
We provide a full venture-creation process, where you develop project-leader skills in a creative incubation environment with support and resources from the University of Gothenburg’s own venture support, GU Ventures. Entrepreneurship requires confidence to cope with change and uncertainties, and our learning outcomes are designed to help you acquire the perspectives, skills, and experiences necessary to take on an entrepreneurial role in the future. An individualized learning process develops your analytical and reflective capabilities in relation to entrepreneurial processes and activities. From day one, you will be involved in developing your own ideas and live projects, but also improving business models for existing start-ups.
Personal development and business development
Profound learning of innovation and entrepreneurship comes with a combination of theoretically driven knowledge, a versatile toolbox, exposure to good practice, and hands-on experience. An important part of the programme is developing your own personal and professional skills, which are crucial to driving entrepreneurship successfully. We focus on your strengths and behavioural styles and how they can be used in multidisciplinary teams, providing you with approaches to handle and mitigate conflicts in groups and develop high-performing teams. You will acquire strategies to negotiate deals, handle resistance towards new ideas, and successfully present and pitch your ideas. We emphasize preparing you for your future career path.
Programme structure and content
The programme offers a combination of courses for theoretical development and understanding combined with practical application. You will gain a thorough theoretical understanding of entrepreneurship as a concept and how it is linked to its surrounding ecosystem. This includes courses tied to areas such as knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship, risk management, and innovation and structural transformation. More specified applications of entrepreneurship will be covered in courses related to social innovation as well as sustainability aspects.
Throughout the programme, you will also have a series of courses focused on the practical application of the knowledge developed. These courses offer you insights on the development of entrepreneurial ventures, from idea generation to scaling. As part of this process, you will work with external idea providers, and will also be offered the opportunity to pitch your own ideas for inclusion in your course work.
Students enrolled in the programme have the possibility of applying for exchange studies at one of the School’s partner universities.
Who should apply?
- Does the notion of doing your own thing often pop up in your mind?
Do you wake up in the middle of the night because you keep on thinking about this new idea? - Are you fed up with the status quo of how things are run around here?
- Do you think that change is inevitable and what you need to do is prepare yourself?
- Do you think change is inevitable and you need to prepare yourself to do this yourself?
If you want to build your confidence to cope with change and uncertainties between companies and surrounding society, then apply for the master’s programme in Knowledge-Based Entrepreneurship.
Prerequisites and selection
Entry requirements
*New updated entry requirements as of autumn 2025:*
General entrance requirements:
A Bachelor's degree (equivalent to 180 ECTS credits) from an internationally recognized university and English 6/English B from Swedish upper secondary school or the equivalent level of an internationally recognized test. For more information about general entrance requirements seewww.universityadmissions.se(English) andwww.antagning.se(Swedish).
Programme specific entrance requirements:
Aminimum of 15 credits of courses in subject areas related to business, economics, industrial management, innovation and/or entrepreneurship, and a minimum of 15 credits in statistics or 7,5 credits in statistics and 7,5 credits in quantitative methods and/or mathematics.
Selection
Applicants who meet the entrance requirements (general and programme specific) are divided into two groups. First, all places are allocated to applicants in group 1. If any places are left they are distributed to applicants in group 2.
Group 1 (prioritized)
Group 1 is applicants with a GMAT score. Applicants are ranked by their GMAT score result. For further information: minimum accepted GMAT score, last day to write test etc.
It is not mandatory to submit a GMAT score, but having a GMAT score that reaches the minimum will give you priority in the admission. Applicants with test results that do not meet the minimum are placed in selection group 2.
Group 2 (secondary)
Group 2 is applicants ranked by number of university credits (ECTS credits). Applicants are ranked by number of credits reported on the last day for application (max. 165 ECTS credits).
If several applicants have the same number of credits the selection of students is made by ballot.
After graduation
Graduates of the programme receive a degree of Master of Science in Knowledge-Based Entrepreneurship.
Future career opportunities include starting new ventures; changing large businesses through business development; PhD studies; consultancy; and working within the entrepreneurial ecosystem on different local, regional, and national levels.
Among the graduates some examples of their first job titles are:
- innovation adviser
- business development analyst
- customer success manager
- international graduate trainee
- management consultant
- founder of own business
More information about after graduation
Facilities
The School of Business, Economics and Law is located at one end of Vasagatan, closest to Haga, and at Viktoriagatan 13. The building at Vasagatan houses the Economics Library, which is several floors high and offers many study places. The building is usually nicknamed "Handels".
More information about facilities
Exchange opportunities
Many of our students choose to go on exchange. By studying abroad,
you will be given the opportunity to experience a new academic
environment, new culture and gain new experiences and perspectives. The
School of Business, Economics and Law and the University of Gothenburg
collaborate with a large number of partner universities all over the
world. Please visit International
office for more information.