Prospectus

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Managing Innovation

Course
2009-2010

This course gives an introduction into the theory of innovation management. Leading questions are: What is innovation management? Why management of innovation? How do innovation processes work? Starting from featuring established theories and models of innovation management we will proceed to discussing current trends such as open and user centric innovation, societal innovation and change, and entrepreneurship. The class will blend life cases presented for which guest speakers are invited and theoretical reflection.

Course Description

This course gives an introduction into the theory of innovation management. Leading questions are: What is innovation management? Why management of innovation? How do innovation processes work? Starting from featuring established theories and models of innovation management we will proceed to discussing current trends such as open and user centric innovation, societal innovation and change, and entrepreneurship. The class will blend life cases presented for which guest speakers are invited and theoretical reflection.

Course objectives

This course is intended for students with a natural science or engineering backgrounds who want to know what innovation management is, how it relates to scientific inventions, how it relates to other domains of management, and what is going on in the leading edge of innovation practice. Important topics are the distinction between invention and innovation, the process of innovation as a social adoption process for new ideas be it on the level of products or societal level, the organization of change associated with innovation, and organizational structures for innovation in firms and in collaboration of several firms in clusters and innovation systems.