One Semester on Innovation Management

About a year back, my friend asked me to think of a one semester Innovation Management course for MBA students. I came up with the following


INNOVATION Management – Harnessing Intellectual Capital

In the rapidly globalizing world of continuous change and competition, every enterprise searches for competitive advantage. Ability for continuous Innovation has always been the competitive advantage that long lasting companies have shown in the past. In the new world with increasing complexities due to increasing globalization, continuous innovation is the only mantra.

Knowledge, Ideation, Creativity and Innovation in the enterprise needs to be tapped and harnessed in a systematic manner to create a future proof enterprise. The know-(how, what and why), business processes, Information Systems, databases, decision-making systems and organizational structure forms what are called Intellectual Assets of an enterprise. These assets need to enmesh the human capital, convert it into value for the enterprise and its end customers in collaboration with complementors, customers, suppliers and even competitors.

The value created by this interplay of Human Capital and Intellectual Assets needs to be protected, leveraged, and converted into Intellectual Property (IP) for attaining competitive advantage in the new world.

This One Semester Course on Innovation exposes participants to various tools, techniques, methodologies and best practices, for generating Synergy in Human Capital, Intellectual Assets and Intellectual Property.

The participants will be exposed to well-established methodologies of Crisis/Seminar Gaming, Thought Experiments, Lateral Thinking, TRIZ, Game Theory and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in a framework developed for a future proof enterprise. Leveraging the vast untapped technical resources in the Patent databases is one of the main components of this framework. With lot of real life examples, case studies, tools exposure and hands on exercises, the participants will learn a practical way to convert and implement Innovation Crafting framework in their organization.

The course will be conducted though group based competitive games through out the duration. The teams will be evaluated on the basis of number of ideas, number of different/ unique ideas, solution comprehension; best action plans to implement, and, how much the tools and techniques taught during the course have been imbibed.

If any team comes out with a Patentable Invention during the course – the team will be awarded maximum grade in the course!


One Semester Course on INNOVAION

Module I: Globalization, Complexity & Innovation – the Interplay

Module II: Human Capital – Knowledge, Ideas, Creativity and Innovation, Brainstorming, TRIZ, Crisis Gaming, Six Thinking Hats, Problem Solving, Decision Making,

Module III: Intellectual Assets – knowhow, Innovation processes, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)

Module IV: Intellectual Property – IP Rights, Patent Prosecution, Leveraging Patent Databases, Patent Portfolio Management

Module V: A Blueprint for creating an Innovative Enterprise – Innovation Crafting Framework


Participants Take Away

Understand the Importance of Intellectual Capital (IC)
Harnessing IC – A Practical Framework
Exposure to various tools and processes
‘Hands On’ problem Solving in workshop settings
Role of Intellectual Property and patents in the new world and how to leverage it!
Innovation Crafting Framework for ideation, problem-solving, decision making and Innovation