Technology and Innovation Course

Lesson 1 • Measuring Innovation Performance

Introduces input, output, and outcome metrics for innovation. Provides tools to evaluate whether innovation efforts create value.

Lesson 2 • Core Innovation Concepts and Typologies

Introduces incremental, radical, disruptive, and architectural innovation. Students can classify real innovations using a consistent framework.

Lesson 3 • Defining Technology in Modern Contexts

Clarifies what technology means across industries and eras. Anchors the chapter by giving students a shared definitional baseline.

Lesson 4 • Technology Adoption and Diffusion Basics

Covers the diffusion of innovations curve and adoption lifecycle. Students predict adoption barriers and enablers for new technologies.

Lesson 1 • Technology Roadmapping

Teaches the construction and use of technology roadmaps for planning. Students create a basic roadmap linking market needs to technology capabilities.

Lesson 2 • Make, Buy, or Partner Decisions

Analyses when firms should build, acquire, or collaborate on technology. Applies transaction cost and capability logic to sourcing decisions.

Lesson 3 • Managing Technology Portfolios

Introduces portfolio tools for balancing core, adjacent, and transformational bets. Students allocate resources across a simulated technology portfolio.

Lesson 4 • Platform and Ecosystem Strategies

Examines two-sided platforms, network effects, and ecosystem orchestration. Students evaluate platform viability and competitive moats.

Lesson 1 • Scaling Design Thinking Organisationally

Addresses embedding design thinking into culture, processes, and leadership. Students design a plan to institutionalise human-centered practices in an organisation.

Lesson 2 • Ideation Techniques in Design Thinking

Applies divergent and convergent thinking tools specific to design thinking. Students generate and select concepts using structured facilitation methods.

Lesson 3 • Problem Framing and Point of View

Guides students from raw research data to a sharp, actionable problem statement. Connects empathy outputs to the ideation phase.

Lesson 4 • Prototyping for User Feedback

Focuses on building testable artefacts quickly and cheaply to learn from users. Reinforces the prototype skills from Chapter 3 in a user-centered context.

Lesson 1 • Concept Development and Prototyping

Guides students from abstract concept to tangible prototype using low-fidelity tools. Connects ideation outputs to testable artefacts.

Lesson 2 • Stage-Gate and Agile Innovation Processes

Contrasts linear stage-gate with iterative agile approaches to innovation. Students choose and justify a process model for a defined project scenario.

Lesson 3 • Testing, Validation, and Iteration

Teaches hypothesis-driven testing and structured feedback loops. Students design a validation experiment for a prototype concept.

Lesson 4 • Scaling and Commercialisation Planning

Addresses the transition from validated prototype to full-scale launch. Students draft a commercialisation plan covering production, pricing, and go-to-market.

Lesson 1 • Financial Modelling for New Business Models

Builds unit economics, cohort analysis, and scenario modelling skills. Students construct a financial model for a technology-enabled venture.

Lesson 2 • Incumbent Business Model Disruption

Analyses how entrants use technology to undercut or bypass established models. Students identify vulnerabilities in an incumbent's model and design a disruptive alternative.

Lesson 3 • Business Model Anatomy and Frameworks

Introduces the Business Model Canvas and related tools for mapping value creation. Provides the structural vocabulary for all subsequent business Model work.

Lesson 4 • Technology-Enabled Business Model Patterns

Catalogues recurring patterns such as freemium, subscription, marketplace, and data monetisation. Students match patterns to technology capabilities identified in Chapter 4.

Lesson 1 • Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Essentials

Demystifies AI and Machine Learning (ML) concepts for non-technical managers. Students identify AI use cases and assess feasibility within their organisations.

Lesson 2 • Internet of Things and Connected Systems

Covers Internet of Things (IoT) architecture, sensor networks, and edge computing. Students map IoT opportunities in a chosen industry vertical.

Lesson 3 • Cybersecurity Fundamentals for Innovators

Introduces threat landscapes, security-by-design principles, and risk frameworks. Ensures students embed security thinking into innovation projects.

Lesson 4 • Leading Digital Transformation Initiatives

Covers digital maturity models, change management, and transformation governance. Students produce a digital transformation roadmap for a case organisation.

Lesson 1 • Building an Innovation Culture

Examines cultural dimensions—risk tolerance, experimentation norms, and failure acceptance—that enable innovation. Students audit a real organisation's culture against these dimensions.

Lesson 2 • Organisational Structures for Innovation

Compares skunkworks, innovation labs, corporate venture units, and ambidextrous structures. Students recommend a structural model for a given organisational context.

Lesson 3 • Characteristics of High-Performing Innovation Teams

Identifies team composition, cognitive diversity, and psychological safety as innovation drivers. Connects team dynamics to the process outcomes covered in Chapter 3.

Lesson 4 • Incentives, Recognition, and Motivation

Covers intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, innovation incentive design, and recognition systems. Students design an incentive scheme aligned to an innovation strategy.

Lesson 1 • Translating Foresight into Strategy

Bridges futures analysis to actionable strategic decisions and investment priorities. Students integrate scenario outputs into a strategic options framework.

Lesson 2 • Scenario Planning for Technology Futures

Teaches two-axis scenario construction and narrative development for technology uncertainty. Students create four plausible scenarios for a chosen technology domain.

Lesson 3 • Emerging Technology Assessment

Applies technology readiness levels and hype cycle analysis to evaluate emerging technologies. Students assess three emerging technologies for strategic relevance.

Lesson 4 • Foresight Methods and Horizon Scanning

Introduces STEEP analysis, weak signal detection, and horizon scanning frameworks. Students build a structured scanning process for an industry of their choice.