Note: The following provides a suggested course description,
objectives, and an outline. These may be modified pending discussion with
the Faculty Chairs, proposing faculty, and other curriculum
reviewers.
Course Description: This course is designed for
technical leaders who are committed to building talent-driven, positive
innovative cultures within their organizations. It introduces general
theories, principles, concepts and practices of innovation,
entrepreneurship and intraprenership. It also allows students the
opportunity to explore strategies for inspiring and managing creativity
and innovation in technical professionals.
Course Objectives
- Students will be prepared to envision, develop, and manage
sustainable new products, product lines, and enterprises.
- Students will learn how to develop a climate that fosters innovation
and continuous improvement.
Course Outline by Topical Areas:
- The R&D Function New Ventures within existing businesses
- New business models business processes that create innovative
cultures
- Managing creative employees - Developing the Inventor and finding
the entrepreneur in each of your technical staff
- Sternberg's Theory of Creativity
- Mentoring for Success
- Management and control systems
- Resources and Planning determining if the invention is feasible
and profitable
- The Business Plan
- The Entrepreneurial Manager
- Identifying and Managing Risks
- Strategies for Creativity, Innovation, and Problem Solving
- Stages of the creative process
- Factors affecting the creative process
- Creativity vs. Problem Solving
- TRIZ theory of inventive problem solving
- Mindmapping, Concept mapping
- Value Engineering
- Other problem solving and design methodologies
- Product Innovation
- Success factors
- Case studies
- Resources
- Filtering ideas recognizing and being able to drive the right
ideas through to implementation
- Patents and Intellectual Property Rights/Intellectual Capital
- Market Research
- Identifying real opportunities
- Capacity versus demand analysis
- Voice of the Customer
- Figuring out what customers want requirements and needs analysis
- Commercializing technologies
- Technology Trends Identifying what is on the horizon
- Economic environments that spur or impair entrepreneurship
- International Orientation
Special Note this course complements Analysis
of Emerging Technologies and thus the Market Research component should
cover the topics in a brief overview. It is a course that most students
will take after they take the Technology and Operations class, so coverage
of Innovation and the R&D Function should be a follow on to that. The
emphasis of the course is on the strategies to manage and promote
creativity, innovation, and problem solving.
