Finland's first micro-entrepreneurship professorship established at the University of Oulu
The tenure-track professorship in micro-entrepreneurship (assistant professor), launched with endowment funds, is an important opening in entrepreneurship research and education. Up to 96.5% of Finnish enterprises are micro-enterprises employing fewer than 10 people, which account for a quarter of all jobs in Finnish enterprises. Micro-entrepreneurship research and the skills it provides will increase the competitiveness of micro-enterprises.
The professorship reinforces the national mission of micro-entrepreneurship research and education assigned to the University of Oulu by the Ministry of Education and Culture, links the University of Oulu more closely to the international research network in the field and creates new opportunities to be involved in developing the conditions for entrepreneurship regionally, nationally and throughout the European Economic Area.
Strong track record to strengthen the micro-entrepreneurship research team
20 candidates applied for the post of Professor of Micro-entrepreneurship, nine of them from abroad. Robert van der Have has a strong track record of research, teaching and social impact, both domestically and internationally.
“Robert Van der Have stood out for his international high-quality publications and solid project experience," says Janne Järvinen, Dean of Oulu Business School.
"His key research topics are an excellent fit to strengthen the entrepreneurship research of the University of Oulu Kerttu Saalasti Institute and Oulu Business School. It is gratifying that van der Have has strong experience in attracting competitive research funding and in implementing national and international research projects," says Professor Matti Muhos, Director of the University of Oulu Kerttu Saalasti Institute.
Originally from the Netherlands, Van der Have has been living in Finland since 2005. He has worked at Aalto University from 2014-2016 as a PhD researcher and partly at the same time as a researcher and senior researcher at VTT from 2006 to 2021. He was a postdoctoral researcher in the Strategy and Venturing Research Group of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at Aalto University from September 2021, until joining the University of Oulu 1st June 2024.
Societal impact through research and networks
Through research, academic excellence and increased research funding, the University of Oulu is strengthening a growing research team with a significant societal demand.
In his previous career at VTT and during my doctoral training at Aalto University van der Have has built up in-depth expertise in the areas of entrepreneurship and innovation, not only from a strategic and business management perspective but also from an economic/industrial policy perspective. He has worked extensively with research data on Finnish enterprises, which comes in handy for my new position. He has worked in several international collaborative projects and visited the USA as a doctoral scholar as well.
“I not only bring a solid network with me for the future but bring along several ongoing collaborative projects. In my new position I find it especially important to promote a sustainably developing society by creating evidence-based knowledge and developing the required human capital”, van der Have says.
More than €650 000 in donations were raised to establish a professorship in micro-entrepreneurship. Read more about the donations and the professorship here.