Cutting Edge Design, Innovation & Entrepreneurship (ID5656)

This is an elective Block-course running the first two weeks of each semester. It is compulsory for students following the JMP-Team Internship Design & Innovation and open to all IDE-MSc-students.

Course Content

The course introduces you to cutting edge subjects on design (thinking), innovation and entrepreneurship seen through a lens relevant for industrial designers. The dominant focus will be on introducing a coherent vocabulary for the innovative designer as well as some fresh theoretical insights based on our research within companies and startups.

The following topics will be addressed and discussed.

  • Creative problem solving, wicked problem solving and rational problem solving. What is the roll of design thinking within these creative activities. Design thinking beyond the application for product design and form giving.
  • Teams, teamwork and your personality treats. Who are you and who are your team members when it comes to collaboration within an innovation project.
  • What are process models of company based innovation processes. What is its vocabulary and how do these innovation notions come together as a coherent whole of an innovation process.
  • What is the startup process. What is its vocabulary and how do these entrepreneurial notions come together as a coherent whole for building your own venture. We will introduce a newly developed ‘start-up’ board.  
  • We will discuss similarities and differences between new venture entrepreneurship and corporate entrepreneurship on the basis of one fundamental theoretical model on innovating.
  • Design research, scientific research, applied research. What are similarities and differences and how might these be relevant for your future design practice. What are important tools and methods for each of these forms of research and how do they relate to a generic research process.
  • What is there to learn from the other IDE-master programs. Exchange of insights, learnings and tools.
  • How to design your pitch in an audience centered way? What is relevant for pitching your story in 1 min, 3 min and 10 min. What are relevant things to take into account while designing and crafting your pitch.
  • Last but certainly not least, design, innovation and entrepreneurship are social activities. Fruitful, successful and constructive collaboration with many (un)known and in most cases different people is crucial to turn your ideas into reality. What are some of the basic things any industrial; design should/must know.

Learning objectives

By the end of the course the student will be able to:

  • Learn about cutting edge insights in the fields of design, entrepreneurship and innovation
  • Explain the differences between the various forms of problem solving and what design could do.
  • Understand and explain the behavior of other (team) members in the light of some personality tests and the student’s own profile.
  • Explain the differences between the various forms of research and how these relate to the work field of the designer.
  • Understand and explain the various forms of innovating and new venturing in relation to creating new value propositions.
  • Explain and compare the various process models of corporate innovation, entrepreneurship and problem solving.
  • Design a pitch based on thorough analysis of the message and audience.
  • Understand the roll of social interactive processes in the light of design, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Educational Method

Team (80%) and individual work (20%). Students work in teams on series of assignments and cases related to the above topics. All assignments will be discussed in so-called Fish Bowl sessions. Students will individually perform a 360 degree feedback activity, fill in some personality tests and integrate these observations into a future agenda.

Assessment

  •  Attendance in Fish Bowl sessions
  • Your Future Agenda: individual agenda that relates your personality treats to design, innovation and entrepreneurial processes. Strengths to build on, weaknesses to compensate by others, challenges for your life long learning.
  • Team peer evaluation report.

 Literature

The course will use relevant literature, varying from books, blogs, movies to scientific papers.