Innovation and Product Development

The course covers the following six topics:
(1) new products as innovations connecting technology and marketing,
(2) the innovation process and its sources,
(3) the business network surrounding product development,
(4) the resources involved in product development,
(5) strategic management of innovation and New Product Development (NPD),
(6) steering and controlling the NPD process.

Knowledge
- the ability to confront different models on innovation, namely the firm-internal and the external-network ones;
- knowledge of current theories on project management

Skills
- applying different innovation models to concrete settings;
- identifying and evaluate innovation sources, new entrepreneurial opportunities but also the related barriers;
- how to influence key actors and resources and to steer them by means of selected managerial tools, including project management

Competences
- understanding users and their needs and how products can create value to users;
- understanding the key actors and resources involved in product innovation

Lectures, seminars case discussions, group works, student presentations. Active classroom participation is always a plus.