Innovation Management

Content

MA Innovation Management is a new course. It aims to bring together open-minded individuals from a diverse range of academic and professional backgrounds in order to promote new ways of thinking and doing that encourages creative collaborations in the pursuit of innovation.

The course will explore innovation in relation to services, products and user experience's. It will be delivered through a range of different learning experience's, from the traditional to the experimental, from student- led to industry-linked, so that students can produce synergistic and co-operative approaches to problem-solving, risk-management and opportunity development.

Graduates of the course will be able to identify and deliver creativity and innovation within both a lifestyle and business context. They will be able to apply innovation tools and practices, research and identify which creative vectors are suitable for a given scenario and communicate such opportunities in a compelling and engaging way.

Structure

The course consists of three progressive units.

Unit One

Critical Evaluative Practices. It adopts a collaborative approach to learning and brings together interdisciplinary teams to undertake activities. Unit One is delivered through a sequence of projects scheduled across the first two terms of the course. The Unit opens with an Orientation Project to 'break the ice' to enable students to understand each other's areas of expertise and to establsh a common vocabulary. Interdisciplinary Study teams will be established in Week 1 to support and encourage members and to facilitate the sharing of expertise and knowledge throughout the course.

Unit Two

Critical Collaborative Practices runs across terms One and Two. You undertake a sequence of projects to apply the theories, tools and methods to which you are introduced through a series of lectures, seminars and workshops and you extend your understanding through self directed collaborative study.

Unit 3

Major Collaborative Project is undertaken in collaboration with a host partner or partners external to the University and is driven by independent learning. It provides you with an extended opportunity to undertake a sustained complex research project that enables you to explore and locate your practice within the area of innovation management. The unit comprises of four elements of independent learning: field research, a critical evaluative report, a feasibility assessment and an innovation forum/conference. The unit concludes with an innovation forum/conference where you will argue a position and communicate the innovation proposition and it's critical characteristics. You, with your peers, plan and implement this event.

Dedication

2 years, full-time.