The Graduate Diploma in Innovation and Enterprise requires the completion of 36 units of study. It is offered in intensive mode and can be undertaken in 12 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 Diploma in Innovation and Enterprise requires the completion of 36 units of study and is normally available to applicants who hold an approved bachelor degree or equivalent qualification or the Graduate Certificate in Innovation and Enterprise from Flinders University or equivalent qualification.

The Faculty Board may, under certain circumstances and subject to specific conditions, admit others who can show evidence of fitness for candidature.

Course aims

This course develops students' 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.

The Graduate Diploma takes students beyond the search for new opportunities to build the analytical and managerial skills required to benefit from collaborative and open innovation approaches and networks, assess the strategic fit of innovation initiatives, build the commercial business case, develop a scalable business model and execute successfully.

Through a series of intensive learning workshops, in-class activities and “real-world” challenges, students will immerse themselves in the dynamics of disruptive markets, creative thinking and problem solving, opportunity generation, evidence-based validation and decision making, strategic innovation management, commercialisation and building innovative business models and organisations. Students will “Go Live” with a real initiative, either in the form of a new venture launch, a corporate innovation sprint or an intensive study tour or industry placement, ensuring that learning is applied and students develop the ability to both think and act entrepreneurially.

Students will also have access to non-award-based workshops and events with experienced entrepreneurs 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 time sensitive and professional 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 drive sector and organisational transformation and growth through innovation
  • How to leverage and manage innovation to create or add value and build competitive advantage
  • How to generate and commercialise transformative opportunities
  • How to design organisational environments that reward disruption and innovation
  • How to develop and nurture individual and team creative problem solving
  • How to manage innovation strategically and at scale
  • How to build and manage collaborative and open innovation initiatives
  • How to leverage the crowd for co-creation and funding
  • How to apply evidence-based decision making in the evaluation and validation of innovative and entrepreneurial initiatives
  • How to implement and manage early stage pilot projects and new venture launches

Learning outcomes 

Students successfully completing this course should be able to:

  • 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
  • Understand how to identify and pursue opportunities to create social and economic value,
  • Analyse and assess the desirability, feasibility and commercial viability of new and disruptive opportunities and build a supporting business case
  • Understand how to assess and plan the implementation of new and disruptive ideas
  • Understand market structure and dynamics and design cost-effective go-to-market strategies
  • Understand and design business models that transform opportunities into social, cultural and economic value
  • Understand how to plan for and manage the piloting and early launch of innovation projects and new ventures

Program of study

To qualify for the Graduate Diploma in Innovation and Enterprise a student must complete 36
units (8 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 1-8.

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.

Topic 5

INNO9003 Collaboration, Co-Creation and the Crowd: Leveraging & Managing your Ecosystem for Innovation GE (4.5 units)

Topic 6

INNO9009 From Intuition to Insight: Validating Desirability, Feasibility and Viability GE (4.5

Topic 7

INNO9012 Going Live! Entrepreneurial Strategies, Resources and Activities GE (4.5 units)

Topic 8

INNO9007 Strategic Innovation: Optimising the Innovation Portfolio (4.5 units)