Product Development & Innovation

The aim of the course is to provide students with knowledge and skills related to technology-based product development and innovation as a core process and driver of competitive advantage of a company. The purpose of the course is that students gain foundational understanding of core concepts centred around decision-making, organising of processes and activities, and involvement of stakeholders for maximising the chances of successful innovation. 

•  Concepts and models of product development and innovation 

•  Opportunities and barriers to successful, technology-based innovation 

•  Organising the product development and innovation process 

•  Managing the front end of the innovation process 

•  Open innovation​ principles and practices 

•  Involving suppliers, customers, users, and other stakeholders 

•  Teams and interdisciplinarity

Students should learn to manage the many aspects and activities related to the process of technology-based product development and innovation. The goal is to introduce students to foundational and cutting-edge, international research that provide perspectives on both opportunities and barriers to successful innovation as well as to provide students with theoretical and methodological tools for managing technology-based product development and innovation.  

Upon completion of the course, the student has, based on the syllabus, knowledge and understanding of and reflect on: 

• The concept of innovation, different types of innovation, and opportunities and barriers related to innovation 

• Different ways of organising and managing the process of technology-based product development and innovation 

• Ways to involve stakeholders in the innovation process 

• The importance of team composition  

The course will provide students with skills to: 

• Design a process model based on a specific case 

• Outline and discuss ways to manage the fuzzy front end of innovation based on determinants of successful innovation 

• Assess innovation potential on technology-based product development projects 

• Outline and discuss principles for utilising input from external stakeholders based on insights into benefits and challenges with different stakeholder types 

The course will provide students with competencies to:  

• Based on empirical insights, develop the foundation for a product development and innovation process 

• Formulate initiatives for reducing barriers to innovation 

• Develop plans for managing product development and innovation activities, at different stages of the process and including     various stakeholders, with the purpose of arriving at successful innovation 

These are examples of literature. The final literature will be announced on Itslearning during August the latest:

• Frederiksen, M.H. & Knudsen, M.P. (2017). From Creative Ideas to Innovation Performance: The Role of Assessment Criteria. Creativity and Innovation    Management, 26(1), 60-74.

• Huizingh, E.K.R.E. (2011). Open innovation: State of the art and future perspectives. Technovation, 31(1), 2-9.

• Schilling, M. (2023; 7th edition). Strategic Management of Technological Innovation. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. 

Research- and dialogue-based lectures, discussion of texts from the syllabus, exercises, case studies, and group work. 

The expected workload is based on a guideline of 27 hours per ECTS point. For this course, this results in 67.5 hours. These hours are distributed across preparation and class attendance, preparation for the exam, and the exam itself.

The 67.5 work hours are distributed as follows:

Lectures: 15 hours.

Preparation for lectures: 30 hours.

Preparation for and the exam itself: 22.5 hours.

Total: 67.5 hours.