INNO9007 Strategic Innovation: Optimising the Innovation Portfolio

2019

4.5

Specific contact hours for each topic include

• 3 x Full day intensive workshop immersions and
• 1 x full day application workshop

Attendance is also required at a number of additional course level full day application workshops.

None

Core in Grad Cert in Innovation for Transformation; Grad Dip in Managing Innovation for Transformation and Master in Leading Innovation for Transformation

Assignments, Project, Tests

In these rapidly changing times, all organisations must innovate to survive. Whether large or small, public or private, sustained growth and solvency requires constant, but managed, innovation and adaptation. The challenge is that the drive to enhance organisational effectiveness tends to insulate an organisation from change, making innovation hard to pull off once, much less time and time again. This topic explores the knowledge and skills that underpin innovation strategies and systems that maximise new value creation and growth, whilst safeguarding organisational effectiveness and existing revenue streams. Through a combination of contemporary theory and application-based challenges, students acquire the concepts and tools needed to design and manage innovation as part of the fabric and strategy of an organisation, from the initial search for new knowledge and technologies, through to innovation portfolio and ecosystem design. Finally, the topic will focus on best practices for managing round after round of innovation and change - while keeping the core of the organisation healthy and strong.

This topic aims to develop students’ capacity to design and optimise innovation strategies and systems, balancing ongoing organisational effectiveness with the search for new, often disruptive, avenues for innovation-led growth. Students will learn to; design systems and structures that enhance the search, absorption and sharing of new knowledge and technology; design and manage an innovation portfolio that includes continuous, adjacent and disruptive innovation across multiple horizons; choose and manage the most appropriate organisational structure for innovation - whether ecosystem, network, alliance, divisions or skunk works; identify and implement best practices for managing (and funding) continual change, including, occasionally, disruptive change - despite the inevitable organisational resistance to change.

On successful completion of this topic students should be able to:

• Understand and apply the theory behind and best practices for knowledge management (search, absorption and sharing) in the pursuit of innovation, including the techniques, structures and rewards that enhance this.
• Describe and utilise the theory behind and best practices for identifying and managing the three types of innovation, each with their own horizon, including the techniques, structures and rewards that support each.
• Design and manage the innovation portfolio to optimise the mix of innovation across innovation types and horizons
• Comprehend, and begin to develop and orchestrate innovation systems, whether external (alliances, networks, open innovation systems) or internal (divisions, networks (again), innovation channels, skunk works, etc) to an organisation.
• Develop insight into the skills required, pitfalls to expect and benefits of managing innovation-oriented organisational change.