Course is closed
Lead Instructor(s)
Date(s)
TBD 2022
Course Length
3 Days
Course Fee
$3,500
CEUs
3.6 CEUs
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Course is closed
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This course may be taken individually or as part of the Professional Certificate Program in Innovation & Technology.

2020 has been a year of reckoning for humanity. In the face of the pandemic, every aspect of human life has had to be rethought in one way or another: how we live, how we learn, how we work, how we shop, and how we move. Countries, companies and individuals in the working world have had to go through a transformation—a collective Apollo 13 period that has stretched over a year—to rethink, to restructure and to retool. The 21st century, it can be said, really begins now. 2001, after all, was merely a continuation of the 90s. But the planet has just gone through a digital transformation of a scale that is hard to capture in words.

We are now tiptoeing our way into a new normal—or as the Chairman of Moderna puts it, into a new abnormal. Innovation will not anymore be an important exercise, but rather an approach to life. Fortunately, we have learned much about innovation over the last 20 years with the growth of new technologies, new business models and new approaches to continuous, dynamic shape-shifting transformation to stay abreast of the times.

Course Overview

The term “innovation” has gone from an exotic good-to-have to a survival mechanism. But what does it mean? Where and how does one apply it? Does everyone need to heed the call for innovation? The answer clearly is “yes.” Whether you operate taxis or rental cars, whether you run a law firm or a dentist’s office, and regardless of how high-tech or mundane your work is, the irresistible winds of change either already have or will at some point impact your business. The objective of this class is to cover some of the salient features of modern innovation practices and to lay out the philosophy, tools, procedures, and incentives that an organization can adopt to drive innovation.

This course was previously titled "Radical Innovation."

 

Learning Outcomes
  • Understand how to identify and evaluate new innovative products and businesses.
  • Review and understand different ways to create an innovation culture.
  • Formulate a corporate plan for invention and continuous generation of new offerings.
  • Develop a new design language and adopt the idea of “inversion” as an approach to creating value.
  • Understand the supporting legal and IP requirements and how to set up an intellectual property strategy for the company.
  • Incubate, refine, and grow a portfolio of innovative new businesses/products.

Class runs 9:00 am - 5:00 pm EDT each day except for Wednesday when it will end at noon.

Day 1

Session 1:

  1. What is innovation, and what is it not?
  2. Inversion: rethinking the business narrative
  3. Agility – the big concept
  4. COVID as a case study

Break

Session 2:

  1. Creative Destruction
  2. Dominant Design
  3. Disruptive Innovation
  4. Inversion
  5. Lead User Innovation
  6. The “What if” moment

Break

Session 3: 

  1. How innovation Is broken
  2. How to fix it
  3. Companies that have pivoted
  4. Exercise

Day 2

Session 1:

  1. Innovation in 2019: what we know about the conditions
  2. Examples
  3. Discussion

Break

Session 2:

  1. Modern agile innovation principles
  2. Lean practices
  3. Discussion

Break

Section 3:

  1. Exercise

Day 3:

Section 1: 

  1. People
  2. Culture
  3. Process
  4. Product
  5. Space

Section 2: 

  1. Discussion and close

Links & Resources

News / Articles:

Who Should Attend

The course is taught from a technology viewpoint and is targeted at technical leaders, executives in charge of product or company strategy, and product managers. Typical titles will include: CTO, Head of Strategy, CIO, Head of R&D, Product Manager, Director of Lab, and Group Leader. Government leaders are particularly welcome.

Requirements

A computer with a web-enabled camera and microphone are required.

Prerequisite

In preparation for the live virtual session, participants must complete a series of preparatory self-paced online lectures hosted by MITxPRO (included in the price of this course). The online sessions consist of approximately 5-8 hours of material, adopted from the MITxPRO course "Technical Innovation: From Strategy to Application"). Fully-paid registrants will be provided with access to that material by May 1.

Testimonials

"I felt I learned more (and re-learned) in the 2-1/2 days we spent in class than in the last six months of thinking about ways to improve various approaches to both business and consumer problems."
SENIOR CONSULTING ENGINEER, EMC CORPORATION
"One of the best investments in money and time in my life."
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERING, DEBISYS INC. DBA EMIDA TECHNOLOGIES
Content

The type of content you will learn in this course, whether it's a foundational understanding of the subject, the hottest trends and developments in the field, or suggested practical applications for industry.

Fundamentals: Core concepts, understandings, and tools - 30%|Latest Developments: Recent advances and future trends - 30%|Industry Applications: Linking theory and real-world - 30%|Other: Predicting the future - 10%
30|30|30|10
Delivery Methods

How the course is taught, from traditional classroom lectures and riveting discussions to group projects to engaging and interactive simulations and exercises with your peers.

Lecture: Delivery of material in a lecture format - 50%|Discussion or Groupwork: Participatory learning - 25%|Other: In-class question and answer - 25%
50|25|25
Levels

What level of expertise and familiarity the material in this course assumes you have. The greater the amount of introductory material taught in the course, the less you will need to be familiar with when you attend.

Introductory: Appropriate for a general audience - 25%|Specialized: Assumes experience in practice area or field - 35%|Advanced: In-depth explorations at the graduate level - 40%
25|35|40