Course description

The objective is to give a basic background to all students, without any prerequisite, on the dynamics of innovation. It will give an overview of the changing role of innovation in economics and society with an historical perspective (from long-term stable society to the permanent regime of innovation) and introduce the key determinants and issues of the process of innovation. It will also introduce to the development of competencies to innovate within the framework of Design Thinking and Creativity.

Learning outcomes of the course

The course is supposed to open students' minds to the societal issues of innovation within a broader way and to experiment the interest of cooperative relationships to develop creativity through teamwork.

Syllabus

After introduction, the course will be organized in 3 parts.

The first one will present economic innovations (new product or new process), which is usually the main topic of the innovation analysis..

Main topics:

• Innovation in the history of thought
• Technological innovation: a historical overview
• Basic notions
• Diffusion of innovation
• Intellectual propriety rights: the patent issues
• Innovation strategy

The second part will go deeper on the dynamics of innovation at different levels.

Main topics:

• Innovation as a learning process
• Technical and organizational change
• Qwerty-nomics, Competition of standards / public and private strategies
• Innovation in a globalized world
• National systems of innovation

The third part will develop three specific aspects of the dynamics of innovation focusing on geographical, environmental and societal issues.

Main topics:

• Spatial dynamic of innovation
• Clean technologies / green innovation
• Social innovation

Teaching and evaluation methods

The teaching methods will rely on active implications of students and interactions, inspired by the methodology of flipped classroom.

The course will be organised in different ways:

• Lectures will give basic knowledge, with associated documents (papers, websites 
to visit, movies, etc.) 

• Case studies will allow more in-depth studies on specific innovations, with an 
active implication of students working cooperatively in small groups. 

• A creative project will be realized by group of students within the framework of Design thinking. 


Evaluation of students will be based on their regular participation and involvement (30%), group creative project (30%) and a short essay (paper, video, slide show) to be prepared at home on a specific topic to be selected jointly with the student (40%).

Bibliography 


Swann, G. M. P., The economics of innovation: An introduction, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2009

Additional documents will be available on the VIU Moodle platform.