The Graduate Certificate in Innovation and Enterprise requires the completion of 18 units of study. It is offered in intensive mode and can be undertaken in six (6) weeks of full-time study (or the equivalent part time). The course is offered by the New Venture Institute and the College of Business, Government and Law.

Admission requirements

The Graduate Certificate in Innovation and Enterprise requires the completion of 18 units of study and is normally available to applicants who hold an undergraduate degree in any area or have five fulltime years of entrepreneurial work experience or supervisory or managerial work experience in a relevant area (e.g. entrepreneurship, innovation, enterprise). The Faculty Board may, under certain circumstances and subject to specific conditions, admit others who can show evidence of fitness for candidature.

Course aims

Navigating a future in which constant change and disruption is the new norm requires that we think creatively, innovate constantly and act entrepreneurially. Exactly these capabilities have
shaped this immersive and intensive Graduate Certificate in Innovation and Enterprise.

This course develops student’s capacity to leverage disruption, creativity and innovation in the pursuit of valuable opportunities with the potential to: transform the organisations and industries of today; launch the new ventures, technologies and services of tomorrow, and; drive a new wave of socio-economic advancement, growth and stability for our shared future.

Through a series of intensive learning workshops, in-class activities and “real-world” challenges, students will immerse themselves in creative thinking and problem solving, contemporary innovation principles and processes, dynamics of disruptive markets, value proposition development, business model innovation and characteristics of disruptive and creative organisational cultures and ecosystems. By combining contemporary academic theory with global best-practice methodologies such as, Design Thinking, Agile Innovation, Lean Start-Up, Rapid Prototyping and Business Model Canvas, students will experience how innovation can be leveraged to address the distinct challenges and opportunities posed by disruption in order to drive transformation and growth in their career, organisation or sector.

Students will also have access to non-award-based workshops and events with experienced entrepreneurs, innovators and other relevant industry practitioners which provides reality and rigor to supplement study.

The program is designed to cater to individuals from all disciplines and backgrounds and will particularly appeal to fast moving and progressive students seeking to grow or transform an existing business, build an organisation-wide culture of creativity and innovation, launch an innovative new venture or enhance their career prospects.

Its aims are to provide students with ability, knowledge and skills in:

  • How to recognise and shape high potential opportunities
  • How to design business models to commercialise opportunities and create new value and growth
  • How to design organisational environments that reward disruption and innovation
  • How organisations can embrace disruption and innovation to drive transformation
  • How organisations leverage innovation to create or add value, and
  • How to develop and nurture creative problem solving.

Learning outcomes 

Students successfully completing this course should be able to:

  • Understand how to identify and shape opportunities to create social and economic value
  • Understand and design business models that transform opportunities into social cultural and economic value
  • Understand disruptive markets, technologies, and social arrangements
  • Understand how disruption and innovation can transform industries and markets and generate new growth
  • Develop and apply creativity approaches and tools to real world innovation challenges
  • Apply innovative principles to solving organisational and social challenges

Program of study

To qualify for the Graduate Certificate in Innovation and Enterprise a student must complete 18
units (4 topics) with a grade of P or NGP or better in each topic, according to the program of study below. Students undertaking part time study must take topics in the correct sequence of 1-4.

Topic 1

INNO9001 Innovative and Creative Thinking: Recognising Opportunities GE (4.5 units)
OR
INNO9002 Agile Innovation for STEM: User Centred Design and Development GE (4.5 units)*

Topic 2

INNO9004 Innovation for Social Impact: Doing Good While Doing Well GE (4.5 units)
OR
INNO9008 Creating Value through Technology: Leveraging STEM Driven Innovation GE (4.5 units)*

Topic 3

INNO9015 From Innovation to Impact: Creating a Roadmap from Opportunity to Action GE (4.5 units)
OR
INNO9016 From Lab to Market: Commercialising STEM Opportunities GE (4.5 units)*

Topic 4

INNO9005 People First: Embedding Innovation into the Organisational DNA (4.5 units)

*Students wishing to undertake STEM focused topics are advised to take this topic.