The objective of the course is for the students to gain practical experience with innovation processes.
The teacher wanted the course content and structure to reflect the reality that the students will encounter after graduation. To make the tasks as practice-based and academically relevant as possible, the teacher used the stages in the innovation model "Design thinking" as a concrete framework for the students’ work.
The teacher makes contact to concrete companies to identify concrete issues or tasks.
The teacher divides the students into groups, assigning a task to each group (NB: the students are not allowed to form their own groups, as in future they will probably also have tasks and collaboration partners assigned to them).
The students then follow the phases in Design Thinking as an iterative process, i.e. they start by analysing user needs, work with hypotheses, experiment, receive feedback and then initiate a new iteration (a cyclical rather than linear process).
The students gain practical and realistic experience with working with innovation processes which they can use in their future working lives. At the same time, they are given a theoretical framework to work in. The students appreciate that they are working with real cases in which companies represented by real people are saying, “We have a problem”.
Faculty: BSS
Degree programme: Master of Science in Innovation Management and Business Development
Course: Innovation Challenge - a hands-on project
Study level: Master’s degree, first semester
Size of class: 60 students
Form of instruction: Classroom instruction
Extent: Activity
Primary activity type: Exercise, collaboration
How the case is carried out: In-person teaching
