Free Course: Innovation for Entrepreneurs: From Idea to Marketplace (Univ. of Maryland)

• University of Maryland, College Park
• Class start: 5 January 2015.
• Course Length: 4 weeks.

They establish a framework for examining the innovation process, and quickly transition into exploring how to successfully bring innovations to market. Key questions answered within the course include:

• What are the key indicators of innovation opportunities?
• What steps are critical for entrepreneurs to bring innovations to the marketplace?
• What innovation strategies are valuable for new ventures to establish and maintain a competitive advantage?

With this course, students experience a sampling of the ideas and techniques explored in the University of Maryland's Online Master of Technology Entrepreneurship.

Syllabus

Week One: The Innovation Landscape

• Defining Innovation for Business Strategy
• Creative Destruction as Innovation’s Outcome
• Innovation’s Value Proposition for Entrepreneurs
• New Models of Innovation for Entrepreneurs 
• How the Life Span of an Innovation Follows Product Life Cycles
• How Innovations Diffuse into the Commercial Marketplace

Week Two: Indicators of Innovation Opportunity & Steps in the Process of Innovation

• Drucker's Seven Sources of Innovation Opportunity
• How Technology “S” Curves Reveal Innovation Opportunity
• Understanding How Innovations Disrupt the Marketplace
• How Lead Users Foster Innovation
• Where Innovation is Hiding in the Value Chain
• How to Recognize a Winning Innovation Idea
• Ways Technology Can Be a Source of Innovation
• Three Framed Views of the Innovation Process
• How Individual Steps Form the Overall Innovation Process
• An Innovation Process Applied: New Product Development
• How Creative Roles Contribute to Innovation
• How Implementer Roles Contribute to Innovation

Week Three: Innovation Strategies for Competitive Advantage

• How Strategic Alliances Enable Open Innovation
• How a Blue Ocean Strategy Leads to New Market Niches
• How to Cross the Adoption Chasm and Get an Innovation to Market
• How Benchmarking Can Be an Innovation Strategy
• How Technology Influences an Innovation Strategy
• How Lead User Research Becomes an Innovation Strategy
• How to Compose the Elements of an Innovation Portfolio
• How Technology Transfer Fits into an Innovation Portfolio

Week Four: Creating Winning Business Models

• Developing Products and Services to Fit the Market
• Keys to Developing Winning Business Models
• Beginning the Business Model Canvas
• Completing the Business Model Canvas