Companies today are facing a rapidly changing environment marked with high levels of competition and uncertainty. In this new era, traditional innovation management methods guided by formal planning are less reliable as they fail to meet the agility and flexibility required to respond to changes. In such a business environment, entrepreneurs increasingly adopt new innovation management practices, based on experimentation and rapid prototyping, to create and capture value. Some of these new approaches to innovation management include the lean start-up methodology, jobs-to-be-done framework, design thinking, and agile development.

This course intends to consolidate practical considerations and scientific rigor in carrying out an innovation management project based on the principles of new approaches mentioned above (e.g., lean start-up methodology, etc). Students will learn about the underlying principals of new product development techniques and gain hands-on experience by working on a real start-up project: launching a new product/ service and attracting potential customers through a landing page. Theoretical and practical input on how to execute projects will be provided and be complemented by interactive class discussions. 

After successfully completing this course, students should be able to

• understand different approaches to new product development
• design and implement the launch of a new product/service
• use customer feedback to refine innovative ideas

Moreover, this course will improve the students’ ability to

• efficiently work and communicate in an international team
• work on solutions for customer problems
• communicate and present efficiently and effectively.

Participation is mandatory for approximately 80% of the course.

Course dates and corresponding learning methods are structured along the process of drafting and executing an innovative idea. Learning methods include lectures, open class discussions, students’ in-class presentations, composing reports and presentations and coaching sessions.

The final grade of the course will depend on:

• Individual participation (20%)
• Individual assignments and deliverables (20%)
• Intermediate group assignments and presentations  (20%)
• Final report and presentation (40%)
• Peer rating (+/-)

By appointment