The Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management places high priority on offering a premier PhD programme that prepares candidates for research and teaching careers at leading educational institutions and for careers where advanced research and analytical capabilities are required. The programme is designed to educate students in business subjects for research and improving private and public decisions involving all areas of business, emphasizing the interface between technology and business.

The programme is prescribed as a 3-year study and consists of coursework and a PhD thesis. The courses included in the coursework should give the candidates advanced training in theory and method, providing depth and breadth in their own subject, while they at the same time place the subject in a broader context. The PhD thesis usually consists of 4-5 articles. The Department encourages publication of the results from the thesis in international scientific journals.

Relevant areas for the PhD in Industrial Economics and Technology Management is Strategy and Management, Organizational Change and ICT, Accounting and Finance, Managerial Economics and Operations Research, and Health, Environment and Safety.

Former PhD candidates have studied international entrepreneurship within offshore renewable energy, the reliability of international freight trains, why and how managers care for employees, how participants are affected by the performance focus of an organization, calculation and prediction of electricity prices, models and methods for optimization of maritime scheduling problems, management of contaminated urban coastal areas, and information security management of employees.

The PhD studies is a research training programme and most candidates work within research, e.g. at NTNU or Sintef. Candidates with a PhD degree are also popular in companies making active use of research results, such as Statoil and Enova.