Meet Tanja - new PhD student with interest in the relation between creativity and business

Tanja Stefanía Rúnarsdóttir has just started her PhD education at the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Tanja comes from Seltjarnarnes, just outside Reykjavík, Iceland.

Prior to the Ph.D., she took her Bachelors in Arts at the Iceland University of Arts focusing on conceptual arts and installations. She had an exchange semester at Konstfack in Stockholm. During that time she also took classes in business and politics at the University of Iceland, since she wanted to combine her studies with both creativity and business. She then continued with taking a Masters in Innovation and Design at Mälardalens högskola in Sweden.

What kind of research will you be focusing on during your PhD education?

I have always been drawn to arts and design; at the same time, I have wanted business and logical thinking in a mix with the creativity. Everything should be carefully measured and written and very goal oriented. I’m interested in combining the two fields of creativity and the logical thinking of business in my research.

My passion for innovation comes from the fact that has no rules; it is looking for new ways, new ideas, and new belongings in our constantly changing and fast phase world. With the background in studying both arts and business, I want to use the opportunity to link together relations between the two different fields. Innovations as business opportunities have their value in the originality of the idea and knowledge.

Why did you choose to apply at IIE?

I choose the department after researching on it and finding it combined my interest where creativity meets business and economics. A balance I’ve been trying to reach in previous studies. Innovations are important for all future development, building on previous knowledge and can be reached with creativity. With the goal of always becoming better at things, we cannot stand still and wait for things to happen. We have to react and interact. We are always trying to foresee the future, with new ideas with the goal that do better today than we did yesterday, and tomorrow will be even better than today.