Innovation and Product Development
About the course
You and your company have the chance to work together with a team of four to five students in the course Innovation and product development (22.5 credits) and the course Challenge-driven innovation for sustainable development (22.5 credits).
In collaboration with you, they test the viability and value creation of your idea/technology and develop a business model and prototype.
About the students
The students are in their final year of the Master's program Innovation Management and Product Development and their technical knowledge is primarily in the field of mechanical engineering. The students come from the engineering programs Design and product development, Mechanical engineering and Vehicle or they are national or international master's students with a background in mechanical engineering.
How
In the Innovation management and product development track, students get to work with innovation and product development from three different perspectives;
(1) develop solutions in the form of products, services and business plans.
(2) learn to lead and organize innovation work and train the constituent parts of innovation and product development processes from understanding user and customer needs to developing a value-creating solution.
(3) learn how to develop innovation strategies, i.e. the company's business orientation, which project portfolio the company should have and how research and development can be organized for innovation.
The students' task is to develop a business plan for an application/product of your technology and a prototype suitable for the project (does not always have to be physical). They must understand your technology and develop an application/product, understand customer groups and what value the product contributes. The students develop a business plan and must, for example, test concepts and interact with potential customers and users and immerse themselves in customer needs. During the project, the students also focus on their way of working and work systematically with project management and methods that support the innovation process.
We have experience that the students' way of working, in addition to business and product results, has also been valuable for participating companies to learn and be inspired by, including how the students work to understand customer needs and how they work with prototypes. The working methods in the course are focused on managing innovative projects by using design thinking principles based on user and customer needs and iterative working methods inspired by lean startup.
Time line
| April-May | August/September | December |
|---|---|---|
| Submit proposal | Project start | Project finish |
Requirements for participating organizations
The challenges come from companies/researchers/students who have developed a new technology that they want to further develop and introduce to a market, and who need extra reinforcement to push an idea. A business plan and a prototype suitable for the project for an application of your technology will be developed in collaboration with students. It could also be that you are curious to take part in and develop your own innovation process with the help of the working method that the students use.
You have continuous contact with the students and collaborate with them during the project. The students' work is part of a course and is independent work, but you are the students' client. It is an important prerequisite that you have a good dialogue during the project to achieve a good result. It is free of charge to participate, but you are responsible for costs during the implementation of the project, such as longer trips or prototype costs. The right to the results are agreed to accrue to the client (students per se own their results but are regulated by contract) and it is appreciated if successful results are acknowledged by the client.