Sunday, June 06, 2010

The Greatest Innovations of All Time

I will be teaching BUS 200 (The Greatest Innovations of All Time) this summer. The course starts on June 24 and will go for six weeks. Last time I taught it, in Winter 2010, we had a wonderful class, people had lots of interesting ideas, and we found a number of good innovation opportunities even in a recession-stricken economy.

Here's a brief description of the course and weekly syllabus. Feel free to pass along.

This hands-on interactive course treats the current global crisis as a unique opportunity for breakthrough innovations. Individuals, businesses, and societies that take advantage of such opportunities propel themselves to the next level of prosperity and growth. Our goal will be to explore five areas essential to modern human endeavor: energy, transportation, information and communications, money and commerce, and health services.


Each class session will look at a specific opportunity domain in two ways. First, we will look at long-term technology and business innovation patterns. We will analyze how people solved seemingly insurmountable problems in the past and understand how and why original recipes for success often turned into recipes for disaster. Second, we will use brainstorming and other creativity techniques to come up with new ideas, identify short- and long-term business and technology opportunities, and outline potential paths for breakthrough innovations.


Weekly Outline

Week 1 – June 24, 2010

We’ll start with a brief course overview; then proceed to invention of Modern Factory, arguably the greatest innovation of the Industrial Age. We’ll also explore various methods that could help spot an industry on a verge of a major breakthrough, and take a close look at major Energy innovations
Reading assignment: Ideas, Chapter 27.

Week 2 – July 1, 2010.

The second session will have a brainstorming session on the future of Energy, an exploration of major innovations in Transportation, and the link between information and modern transportation systems.


Week 3 – July 8, 2010

The third session will pick up on the connection between Transportation and Communications. Among other topics, we’ll consider the impact of the Telegraph and Logistics systems. Finally, we’ll have a Six Hats brainstorming on the future of books.
Reading assignments:  HYPERLINK "http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_07.htm" Six Thinking Hats

Week 4 – July 15, 2010

The fourth session will start with the analysis of Product vs Process innovation timing. We’ll explore connections between major modern recessions and major waves of high-tech innovation. Finally, we’ll consider Money as one of the greatest innovations of all time, including its future in digital commerce.
Reading assignments: History of Money, chapter 2.

Week 5 – July 22, 2010

The fifth session will be dedicated to Healthcare innovations. We’ll also look into its connection with money, information, and communication technologies.

Reading assignments: History of Medicine, chapter 9.

Week 6 – July 29, 2010

During the final session, we’ll review the most important innovation patterns and see how they work together to provide major industry shifts. Further, we’ll explore creative forecasting techniques and brainstorm emerging opportunities for breakthrough innovations.





No comments: