Professor Heidi Wiig holds a MA in Political Science with a major in International Political Economy from the University of Oslo, and a PhD in Economic Geography from Lund University, Sweden. Currently she holds the position as Associate Dean for BI's operations in China, with a special responsibility for the academic and pedagogical standard, the market relevance and delivery of the BI-Fudan program (Shanghai) and the BI-Tsinghua Educational Program for Entrepreneurs (Beijing).
She has for several years carried out research in the field of innovation studies and her core research competence is related to regional industrial development and studies of innovation dynamics in specific sectors. In recent years she has had a special emphasize on global innovation networks and structural determinants for such activity.
Wiig has carried out numerous research projects, including evaluations of public organizations and policy initiatives, leading to more than 40 reports, book chapters and articles. She has been leading, coordinating and taking part in several research projects financed by both national (Norwegian research council, Innovation Norway, different ministries and county councils) and international sources (EU, OECD), of which many include partners from the Norwegian as well as the international research milieus in the field.
Women in patriarchal societies face cultural barriers hindering them in pursuing entrepreneurship. For example, women are hindered by gender roles, male dominated networks and expectations that they take of the family. Recently, scholars have argued that digital technologies may provide women with avenues to bypass these barriers. Yet, there is little knowledge about how female entrepreneurs engage with digital tools, and how this may help them bypass gendered, cultural barriers. Using 18 interviews with female entrepreneurs in Beijing and Shanghai, we identify four affordances (virtual networking, online learning, opportunity creation and scaling-up) that women use to overcome the cultural barriers to entrepreneurship. We find that through engaging these affordances, the women feel empowered and able to challenge traditional structures. Our paper contributes to recent work in digital and women entrepreneurship as we unpack how women actively create affordances, such as female friendly communities, and how they skilfully use new digital technologies to try to disrupt traditional industries.
The COVID-19 pandemic fully exposed the vulnerability of the global agri-food system to shocks and stresses, highlighting the need for transformation and action to make it more resilient and inclusive. This paper offers a unique insight into the global nature of the COVID-19 pandemic by examining impacts and responses in the agri-food sector within three very distinct contexts, namely the United States, Norway, and China. Focusing on small, diversified farms, the study builds on prior research with the same farmers and support organizations from an on-going collaboration. Firstly, we conducted a short review of policy adaptations to understand how governments, the private sector, non-profit organizations, and communities “stepped up” to provide emergency relief, specialized training, and recovery support for farmers, support that was instrumental in preventing more devastating impacts in all three countries. Secondly, drawing from in-depth interviews with farmers (23) and government and non-governmental support organizations (19), we mapped the vulnerability and resiliency of selected farmers to shocks that severely disrupted traditional supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected on both the negative and positive impacts of the pandemic to farmer inputs, including labor, operations, and markets, how these changed from the initial lockdowns in early 2020 and through 2021, and on farmer adaptive responses to these impacts. In some contexts, innovation and adaptive responses counteracted negative impacts. We saw diversifying markets, catering to consumer safety concerns, switching to direct and e-markets, hiring in more labor or relying on family labor, and switching to high demand crops and products as the most prominent adaptive responses. Farmers who lacked access to information and government programs, in large part because of language, technology and institutional barriers, missed out on pandemic related opportunities and suffered the most. As we enter the post-pandemic new normal it is important to take stock of lessons learned, and to continue to support those initiatives and innovations that were pivotal not only for weathering the storm, but for building a more inclusive and resilient agri-food system in the long-run.
This article analyzes the role of agency in reducing environmental risk in the Norwegian salmon farming industry. The theoretical starting point is recent literature on change agency which focuses on the different ways in which actors purposely act to renew existing and create new regional industry growth paths, and reproductive agency which focuses on how actors, explicitly and implicitly, maintain existing structures to uphold status quo. Departing from a current risk society ambiguity in the industry and an explorative multi-scalar study of industrial innovation processes, we analysis how change agency combined with reproductive agency play out. The analysis shows that change agency affecting transformative agency capacity reducing environmental risk is connected to institutional entrepreneurship in terms of a Development Licenses Program on the national level and to Schumpeterian innovative entrepreneurship in terms of Development Licenses Projects on firm level. Moreover, the study shows how reproductive agency also affects the capacity to cope with environmental risks in terms of risk reducing place-based leadership illustrated by cooperation and bottom-up, self-organized area cooperation on the regional level, and in terms of risk creation illustrated by a global growth logic across geographical levels. On this ground, it is argued that the theoretical contribution of the study is that the transformative capacity to reduce environmental risks of an industry rests on multi-scalar change- and reproductive agency and how these are combined.
Jan, Vang; Wiig, Heidi & Dana, Leo-Paul (2021)
Innovation systems and entrepreneurship research
, s. 411- 426.
Wiig, Heidi; Liu, Ju & Zukauskaite, Elena (2020)
Global knowledge sourcing in thick and diversified RIS: case studies in Oslo, Malmø and Beijing.
There is an increased need of understanding organizational and institutional underpinnings of firms’ global knowledge search. This paper addresses thick and diversified RIS in two different territorial contexts and explores firms’ use of physical and virtual space in their search of innovation relevant knowledge. Through interviews with ICT and new media SMEs from Scandinavia (Oslo, Malmö) and Beijing, findings show that low-cost and virtual search space is very important for innovation; furthermore, regional, global and virtual space co-evolve and mutually reinforce each other. Global search strategies differ between the two contexts, emphasizing the importance of a regional institutional-organizational framing supporting trust, collaboration and motivation for global search. In order to reap the benefits of the regional-global-virtual dynamics, being thick and diversified is not enough to have global reach and attractiveness
Aarset, Bernt; Carson, Siri Granum, Wiig, Heidi, Måren, Inger Elisabeth & Marks, Jessica (2020)
Lost in Translation? Multiple Discursive Strategies and the Interpretation of Sustainability in the Norwegian Salmon Farming Industry
The term ‘sustainability’ is vague and open to interpretation. In this paper we analyze how firms use the term in an effort to make the concept their own, and how it becomes a premise for further decisions, by applying a bottom-up approach focusing on the interpretation of ‘sustainability’ in the Norwegian salmon-farming industry. The study is based on a strategic selection of informants from the industry and the study design rests on: 1) identification of the main drivers of sustainability, and 2) the application of five different discursive strategies to analyze how the firms maneuver to legitimize ‘sustainability’ in their conduct. We employ the Critical Discourse Analysis framework, which emphasizes how discourses provide different concepts of meaning. The sustainability concept is assessed based on how sustainability is brought into action by social actors in a legitimate way, and how this action results in sustainable practices. The empirical case of the study is the verbal justification of sustainability practices among representatives of the Norwegian salmon-farming industry. We aim to find out how these representatives translate the rather vague directives of the sustainability concept into legitimate choices that resonate with the firms’ contextual environment, hence, how the salmon farmers perceive, explore, interpret, explain, enact, and defend the diverse landscape of sustainability when implementing professional decisions. We found a trend of passive adaptation to external requirements, such as public regulations and regulative requirements from certification bodies. At the same time, there are progressive forces that attempt to improve the sustainability of the farming practices by involvement in research and innovation projects or cooperation with other firms, e.g. the contribution from offshore engineers in developing high seas farms. The strategies outlined and discussed cannot be seen as a typology to categorize the firms. More than one discursive strategy may be involved in one firm’s choice, and the strategies may work on different levels.
Martin, Roman; Aslesen, Heidi, Grillitsch, Markus & Herstad, Sverre Johan (2018)
Regional innovation systems and global knowledge flows
The literature on regional innovation systems emphasizes the role of the region as locus for interactive learning and knowledge exchange, stressing the importance of (geographical) proximity for innovation. Even though the importance of extra-regional knowledge is widely acknowledged, there has been only little emphasis on the particular role and the nature of global knowledge flows. The aim of this chapter is to explore the differentiated nature of global knowledge flows in regional innovation systems. We provide an overview of the different ways firms can gain access to global knowledge sources. Identified knowledge sourcing channels include international R&D collaborations, foreign direct investments, personally embedded relationships, international mobility of skilled labour, virtual communities and online platforms, and the participation in temporary clusters such as fairs, exhibitions, and conferences. Depending on regional innovation system preconditions, firms use and combine different knowledge sourcing channels to access global knowledge. Firms in organisationally thick and diversified regional innovation systems have a geographical advantage in accessing knowledge globally, but even firms in peripheral areas can exchange knowledge worldwide, due to improved means of transport and communication at distance. Furthermore, not only multinational companies that are dominated by analytical or synthetic knowledge bases, but even small and medium sized enterprises in symbolic industries are often deeply involved in global knowledge sourcing activities. We illustrate our arguments with interview data collected among New Media firms in southern Sweden and in the Oslo Region in Norway.
Aslesen, Heidi; Martin, Roman & Sardo, Stefania (2018)
The virtual is reality! On physical and virtual space in software firms’ knowledge formation
For more than two decades, cluster theory has served as a basis for widespread implementation of regional development policies in several countries. However, there are still persistent struggles in academia towards agreement on clear operational definitions of a cluster. In this article, we argue that this definitional haziness, reflected by difficulties in demarcating the scale and scope of clusters, leads to a stretching of the cluster concept when put into practice. We show how actors, through cluster projects, are utilizing strategies of “hubbing” and/or “blending” to develop their own understandings of both what clusters are and what they might or should be. Through studies of three Norwegian cluster projects, we argue that national cluster policies, through translation of an academically vague concept, facilitate a stretching of the original definition of clusters, giving regional stakeholders leeway to integrate other theoretical rationales instead. We argue that this is not taken into account in current policies.
Aslesen, Heidi & Harirchi, Gouya (2015)
The effect of local and global linkages on the innovativeness in ICT SMEs: does location-specific context matter?
The main argument of this paper is that firms and industries are dominated
by different innovation modes and that they therefore respond differently to
challenges of globalisation. The paper differentiates between three modes: science,
technology and innovation (STI), doing, using and interacting (DUI) application
mode and the DUI technological mode. These innovation modes are based on
different dominant knowledge bases, modes of learning and external knowledge.
What is the implication of these differences with regard to competing in a global
economy? Our empirical research shows that firms innovating according to the DUI
application mode are in a position of negative lock-in due to severe competition
from low-cost countries. The DUI technological mode firms are globally competitive
due to a strong regional technological base built upon broad collaboration and a
mixed innovation strategy. The STI firms are often part of international or national
corporations, with a constant threat of being relocated to another country if they are
not globally competitive.
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig & Freel, Mark (2012)
Industrial Knowledge Bases as Drivers of Open Innovation?
The article presents an analysis of a large-scale survey with the aim of understanding differences in the open, interactive and distributed nature of external innovation relations amongst firms belonging to different industrial knowledge bases. The thesis is that the source of critical innovation relevant knowledge differs between industrial knowledge bases, making the character and the need of openness contingent on these specificities. Accordingly, we anticipate that we will observe systematic variations in how industries access and combine innovation-related external knowledge. In our analyses we attempt to address a gap in the literature by examining how industrial knowledge bases affect the recombination of knowledge by analysing the different extents, forms (formal and informal) and geography of inbound open innovation. The article illustrates that features and structures of inbound open innovation align, to a large extent, with the industries' knowledge bases and that there is a interplay between an industry's knowledge base, the internal organisation of innovation processes and the channels and geography of inbound open innovation.
Innovasjons- og næringslivsforskning ved et veiskille
[Kronikk]
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig & Widding, Lars Øystein (2012)
Entreprenørskap kan læres
[Kronikk]
Aslesen, Heidi (2017)
“Dynamic knowledge linkages and extended innovation spaces”
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Martin, Roman; Aslesen, Heidi, Grillitsch, Markus & Herstad, Sverre Johan (2017)
Regional innovation systems and global knowledge flows
[Report Research].
The literature on regional innovation systems emphasizes the role of the region as locus for interactive learning and knowledge exchange, stressing the importance of (geographical) proximity for innovation (Asheim and Gertler 2005). Even though the importance of extra-regional knowledge is widely acknowledged (Trippl et al. 2015), there has been only little emphasis on the particular role and the nature of global knowledge flows. The aim of this chapter is to explore the differentiated nature of global knowledge flows in regional innovation systems. We provide an overview of the different ways firms can gain access to global knowledge sources. Identified knowledge sourcing channels include international R&D collaborations, foreign direct investments, personally embedded relationships, international mobility of skilled labour, virtual communities and online platforms, and the participation in temporary clusters such as fairs, exhibitions, and conferences (Maskell et al. 2006, Aslesen and Sardo 2016). Depending on regional innovation system preconditions, firms use and combine different knowledge sourcing channels to access global knowledge. Firms in organisationally thick and diversified regional innovation systems have a geographical advantage in accessing knowledge globally, but even firms in peripheral areas can exchange knowledge worldwide, due to improved means of transport and communication at distance. Furthermore, not only multinational companies that are dominated by analytical or synthetic knowledge bases, but even small and medium sized enterprises in symbolic industries are often deeply involved in global knowledge sourcing activities. We illustrate our arguments with interview data collected among New Media firms in southern Sweden and in the Oslo Region in Norway
Aslesen, Heidi (2017)
Regional institutions and organizations and the interrelatedness with global knowledge exchange. The new media industry in Scandinavia and Beijing.
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Aslesen, Heidi; Zukauskaite, Elena & Liu, Ju (2016)
Global knowledge exchange in Scandinavia and China: On the role of institutions and organizations
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Aslesen, Heidi; Hydle, Katja Maria & Wallevik, Kristin (2016)
Extra-regional linkages through MNCs in organizationally thick and specialized RIS; a source of regional development?
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Aslesen, Heidi & Sardo, Stefania (2016)
Extended space as sources for innovation and regional development
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Aslesen, Heidi; Hydle, Katja Maria & Nygaard, Vigdis (2016)
Innovating in MNCs Innovation modes and outcomes at play
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Aslesen, Heidi; Herstad, Sverre Johan, Grillitsch, Markus & Martin, Roman (2016)
Regional Innovation Systems and Global Flows of Knowledge
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Aslesen, Heidi & Pettersen, Inger Beate (2015)
Investigating innovation dynamics in the biotech and subsea industry. How can cluster facilitation aid young firms with radical innovations
Encounters between cluster theory and practice: ‘Hubbing’, ‘blending’ and conceptual stretching
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig & Herstad, Sverre Johan (2013)
North-South dividing lines in the global innovation network linkages of ICTs” (revised version). Heidi Wiig Aslesen, Sverre Herstad
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig & Herstad, Sverre Johan (2013)
On Industrial Knowledge Bases, Commercial Opportunities and Global Innovation Network Linkages
[Lecture]. Event
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig & Herstad, Sverre Johan (2012)
North-South dividing lines in the global innovation network linkages of ICTs
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Børve, Brita; Aslesen, Heidi Wiig, Boge, Knut, Brøgger, Benedicte, Garnes, Åge, Lervik, Anne K. Eggen, Rønnevig, Elisabeth, Tolsby, June, Sethov, Ellen & Voll, Liv Oddrun (2012)
Rapport fra prosjektet Nettverksbygging, kompetanse- og studietilbudsutvikling innenfor innovasjon og entreprenørskap i Oslo-, Akershus- og Hedmarksregionen: NU E15
[Report Research].
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig & Iversen, Eric James (2012)
“Sectoral dynamics and global innovation networks in a North South perspective”
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig & Herstad, Sverre Johan (2012)
North-South dividing lines in the global innovation network linkages of ICTs
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig & Onsager, Knut (2009)
Knowledge bases, open innovation and city regions
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig; Astroza, Alessandro & Gulbrandsen, Magnus (2009)
Multinational companies embedded in national innovation systems in developing countries: the case of Norwegian fish farming multinationals in Chile
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig (2007)
The innovation system of Norwegian aquacultures salmonids
Effekter og effektivitet : effekter av statlig innsats for regional utvikling og distriktspolitiske mål : utredning fra Effektutvalget, oppnevnt ved kgl. res. 5. oktober 2001 : avgitt til Kommunal- og regionaldepartementet 29. januar 2004
[Report Research].
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig (2004)
Knowledge intensive service activities and innovation in the Norwegian aquaculture industry: Part project report from the OECD KISA study
[Report Research].
This report is the last of three studies focusing on the use of knowledge intensive service activities (KISA) in innovation in specific industries in Norway (Broch, 2004 and Broch and Isaksen, 2004). Typical examples of KISA in firms and organisations includes R&D, management consulting, IT services, human resource management, accounting and financial service activities, marketing and sales, project management, organisational activities, and training. The main focus in this report is on KISA in the aquaculture industry in Norway. One of the main objectives of the study is to provide insights into how aquaculture firms maintain and develop productive and innovative capabilities through utilisation of KISA, provided by internal and / or external sources. The main research questions are: What internal and external competencies do firms use in innovation, and how are these competencies used to build the firm-specific knowledge and skill base needed to facilitate learning and innovation processes? The ultimate objective of the KISA project, i.e. the comparative studies of the specific industries in different OECD-countries , is to inform government policy and programs on how to use KISA in building innovation capability of firms and organisations across various industries and sectors in the economy.
Studie av innovasjonssystemer for marine innsatsvarer
[Report Research].
Prosjektet ”Studie av innovasjonssystemer for marine innsatsvarer” er laget på
oppdrag fra SND. Bakgrunnen for henvendelsen er at SND skal utarbeide en strategi
for økt verdiskaping i marine næringer. SND vil i den anledning utarbeide
delstrategier for 5 områder innenfor marine næringer. STEP-gruppen er bedt om å
gjennomføre innovasjonsstudie innenfor ett av områdene, området ”Leveranse av
innsatsfaktorer”.
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig (2001)
Innovasjon i Sogn og Fjordane
[Report Research].
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig; Broch, Marianne, Koch, Per M. & Solum, Nils Henrik (2001)
Technopolis RCN Evaluation: User Oriented R&D in the Research Council of Norway
SIVA Internasjonal: Perifer regionalpolitikk. En evaluering av SIVAs internasjonale engasjement
[Report Research].
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig; Fraas, Morten, Isaksen, Arne & Smith, Keith Harold (2000)
Evaluering av SIVA s.f.: Fra eiendomsforvalter til utviklingsaktør
[Report Research].
Aslesen, Sigmund (1999)
Kjønn, entreprenørskap og foretaksutvikling - gjennomgang av teori og empiri
[Report Research].
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig; Braadland, Thor Egil, Ekeland, Anders & Ørstavik, Finn (1999)
Performance and cooperation in the Oslo region business sector
[Report Research].
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig; Braadland, Thor Egil, Smith, Keith Harold & Ørstavik, Finn (1999)
Economic activity and the knowledge infrastructure in the Oslo region
[Report Research].
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig (1999)
Governance and the innovation system of the fish-processing industry in Northern Norway
[Report Research].
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig; Braadland, Thor Egil, Jensen, Louise Hvid, Isaksen, Arne & Ørstavik, Finn (1999)
Innovation, knowledge bases and clustering in selected industries in the Oslo region
[Report Research].
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig; Grytli, Tori, Isaksen, Arne, Jordfald, Bård, Langeland, Ove & Spilling, Olav R (1998)
Struktur og dynamikk i kunnskapsbaserte næringer i Oslo
[Report Research].
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig & Isaksen, Arne (1998)
Innovation in ultra-peripheral regions: The case of Finnmark and rural areas in Norway
[Report Research].
Isaksen, Arne; Karlsen, Eva Næss, Pedersen, Trond Einar, Smith, Keith Harold, Aslesen, Heidi Wiig & Arnold, Erik (1996)
Evaluering av nyskapings- og teknologiprogrammet for Nord-Norge (NT-programmet)
[Report Research].
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig (1996)
An empirical study of the innovation system in Finnmark
[Report Research].
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig & Wood, Michelle (1995)
What Comprises a Regional Innovation System? An Empirical Study
[Report Research].
Ekeland, Anders & Aslesen, Heidi Wiig (1994)
Naturviternes kontakt med andre sektorer i samfunnet
[Report Research].
Aslesen, Heidi Wiig & Ekeland, Anders (1994)
Forskermobilitet i instituttsektoren i 1992
[Report Research].
Denne undersøkelsen beskriver mobilitetsmønstre for forskere i instituttsektoren til og fra andre sektorer i samfunnet. Vi ser også på omfanget av innlån og utlån av forskere. Resultatene fra Norge blir sammenlignet med det vi har funnet av materiale fra andre land, hovedsakelig Sverige.
Academic Degrees
Year
Academic Department
Degree
2006
University of Lund
Ph.D Fil. Dr
1993
University of Oslo
Master Cand. Polit.
Work Experience
Year
Employer
Job Title
2018 - Present
BI Norwegian Business School
Associate Dean BI-Fudan MBA Programme
2011 - Present
BI Norwegian Business School
Professor
2020 - 2022
Høyskolen på Vestlandet. Mohn senteret.
Professor
2020 - 2022
Høyskolen Vestlandet
20% stilling på Mohn senteret. Høyskolen Vestlandet i tilknytning til NFR posjektet. Responsible Innovation in Fish Farming".
2008 - 2011
BI Norwegian Business School
Associate professor
2004 - 2008
NIFU STEP
Senior researcher, Leader of the the programme area Innovation studies
2003 - 2004
SINTEF STEP
Senior researcher, group leader, Innovation studies
1994 - 2003
Step-Group
Researcher
1991 - 1994
Norsk Regnesentral
Research Assistent
1990 - 1991
United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations (UNCTC). New York
