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    A Scientific Approach to Innovation Management
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    3. Business Strategy
    Università Bocconi

    A Scientific Approach to Innovation Management

    Alfonso Gambardella
    Arnaldo Camuffo
    Chiara Spina

    Instructors: Alfonso Gambardella

    Instructors

    Instructor ratings

    We asked all learners to give feedback on our instructors based on the quality of their teaching style.

    4.6 (18 ratings)
    Alfonso Gambardella
    Alfonso Gambardella
    Università Bocconi
    1 Course•9,063 learners
    Arnaldo Camuffo
    Arnaldo Camuffo
    Università Bocconi
    1 Course•9,063 learners
    Chiara Spina
    Chiara Spina
    Università Bocconi
    1 Course•9,063 learners

    9,063 already enrolled

    Included with Coursera Plus

    •Learn more
    5 modules
    Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
    4.6

    (77 reviews)

    13 hours to complete
    3 weeks at 4 hours a week
    Flexible schedule
    Learn at your own pace

    5 modules
    Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
    4.6

    (77 reviews)

    13 hours to complete
    3 weeks at 4 hours a week
    Flexible schedule
    Learn at your own pace
    • About
    • Modules
    • Recommendations
    • Testimonials
    • Reviews

    Skills you'll gain

    • Big Data
    • Regression Analysis
    • Strategic Decision-Making
    • Business Metrics
    • Correlation Analysis
    • Statistical Analysis
    • Data Analysis
    • A/B Testing
    • Analytical Skills
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Data-Driven Decision-Making
    • Innovation
    • Decision Making
    • Machine Learning

    Details to know

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    Assessments

    6 assignments

    Taught in English

    See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills

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    There are 5 modules in this course

    How can innovators understand if their idea is worth developing and pursuing? In this course, we lay out a systematic process to make strategic decisions about innovative product or services that will help entrepreneurs, managers and innovators to avoid common pitfalls. We teach students to assess the feasibility of an innovative idea through problem-framing techniques and rigorous data analysis labelled ‘a scientific approach’. The course is highly interactive and includes exercises and real-world applications. We will also show the implications of a scientific approach to innovation management through a wide range of examples and case studies.

    This video is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 101021061)

    We provide a general discussion of innovation as problem-solving and we link the discuss the building blocks of the scientific approach to innovation decisions – from how to formulate the problem, to how to formulate the hypotheses and the theory, and how to test them. The whole discussion will be framed and applied to concrete managerial problems, including a discussion of the specific managerial tools that facilitate the application of a scientific approach to innovation management.

    What's included

    15 videos3 readings1 assignment1 discussion prompt

    15 videos•Total 107 minutes
    • Welcome to the course•6 minutes•Preview module
    • Operation efficiency vs strategic efficiency•3 minutes
    • What data can and cannot do•4 minutes
    • Strategic efficiency•4 minutes
    • What does the scientific approach do: the Galilean manager•5 minutes
    • Inkdome case•5 minutes
    • What is innovation•7 minutes
    • The structure of the innovation decision•15 minutes
    • Risk and Uncertainty•11 minutes
    • Type I and type II errors in innovation decisions•6 minutes
    • Interactive tour of the Museum of Failure•3 minutes
    • Antecedents of the Scientific Approach•9 minutes
    • The Building Blocks: THEED•4 minutes
    • Formulate and apply theories to managerial problems•11 minutes
    • Tools: business model canvas and other tools•8 minutes
    3 readings•Total 30 minutes
    • Readings & Videos•10 minutes
    • Recap slides•10 minutes
    • Background material (extended slides)•10 minutes
    1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
    • Week 1•10 minutes
    1 discussion prompt•Total 10 minutes
    • So much data, so little analysis...•10 minutes

    We provide more details about the scientific approach and we introduce probabilities to understand how and why certain decisions lead to some outcomes instead of others and how to make better decisions. We also focus on how to formulate and test hypotheses in practice, and how to interpret these tests. We finally discuss how to design and run experiments. NB: some videos may contain a downloadable database; please, download it and follow the in-video instructions

    What's included

    17 videos3 readings3 assignments1 discussion prompt

    17 videos•Total 139 minutes
    • Basic tools: probabilities•6 minutes•Preview module
    • Conditional probabilities and the Bayes Theorem•8 minutes
    • The Scientific Approach: Theory and Mechanisms•10 minutes
    • Using the organization to set the decision rule•7 minutes
    • The Scientific Approach: summary and its use in practice•9 minutes
    • How to derive hypotheses from a theory•6 minutes
    • Hypotheses and their context [p values don’t always matter]•5 minutes
    • Cases•4 minutes
    • Design and logic of hypothesis testing (download the attached datasets)•12 minutes
    • The use of experiments in innovation management•11 minutes
    • Randomized Control Trials•7 minutes
    • Split and multivariate tests•12 minutes
    • Quasi Experimental Design•6 minutes
    • Innovation metrics•11 minutes
    • Metrics validity and reliability•5 minutes
    • Metrics validity•7 minutes
    • Metrics reliability•8 minutes
    3 readings•Total 30 minutes
    • Readings & Videos•10 minutes
    • Recap slides•10 minutes
    • Background material (extended slides)•10 minutes
    3 assignments•Total 40 minutes
    • Week 2•10 minutes
    • Exercise 1•15 minutes
    • Exercise 2•15 minutes
    1 discussion prompt•Total 10 minutes
    • Barriers to the adoption of a scientific approach to innovation management•10 minutes

    We cover the basics of data analysis, beginning with the distinction between correlation and causality in the analysis of data. We also teach how to make predictions using regression analysis and link these methods to the scientific approach, showing what role these analyses play, how they help to make scientific decisions and why. We complement this with real examples of companies using data to make innovation decisions. We close by discussing how to interpret these analyses and results critically to make sure we understand what we really learn from the analyses and when, how and why we should interpret our results cautiously and critically.

    What's included

    8 videos3 readings1 assignment1 discussion prompt

    8 videos•Total 63 minutes
    • Correlation vs causality•9 minutes•Preview module
    • Regression analysis: Theory•11 minutes
    • Regression analysis: Application•9 minutes
    • Interview with Mimoto: paving the way for electric mobility using a scientific approach•8 minutes
    • Interview with Eni Gas and Power: leveraging big data to uncover customer preferences•8 minutes
    • Using data to answer important questions at Google•3 minutes
    • How firms and startups can gather and analyze data to test hypotheses•6 minutes
    • Reflection critical evaluation•5 minutes
    3 readings•Total 30 minutes
    • Readings & Videos•10 minutes
    • Recap slides•10 minutes
    • Background material (extended slides)•10 minutes
    1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
    • Week 3•10 minutes
    1 discussion prompt•Total 10 minutes
    • Reflecting on uncertainty•10 minutes

    This is s a more advanced part in which we discuss causality and provide the students with some broad exposure to big data and machine learning, and we discuss what they can do for managerial decisions.We provide a general wrap-up and conclusion of the course, including a discussion of when the scientific approach is most appropriate or has limitations. This helps to see when to apply it, or when to apply other approaches, including our own gut feelings. NB: some videos may contain a downloadable database; please, download it and follow the in-video instructions

    What's included

    7 videos3 readings1 assignment1 discussion prompt

    7 videos•Total 53 minutes
    • Difference-in-difference approach: Theory (download the attached datasets)•10 minutes•Preview module
    • Difference-in-difference approach: Examples (download the attached datasets)•9 minutes
    • Instrumental variables: Theory (download the attached datasets)•9 minutes
    • Instrumental variables: Examples (download the attached datasets)•5 minutes
    • Data science vs causal links•4 minutes
    • Machine learning for innovation management decisions•5 minutes
    • Summary, conclusions, limitations of the scientific approach•8 minutes
    3 readings•Total 30 minutes
    • Readings & Videos•10 minutes
    • Recap slides•10 minutes
    • Background material (extended slides)•10 minutes
    1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
    • Week 4•10 minutes
    1 discussion prompt•Total 10 minutes
    • Discussing type 1 and type 2 errors•10 minutes

    What's included

    1 peer review

    1 peer review•Total 240 minutes
    • A Scientific Approach to Innovation Management - Final project•240 minutes

    Instructors

    Instructor ratings

    Instructor ratings

    We asked all learners to give feedback on our instructors based on the quality of their teaching style.

    4.6 (18 ratings)
    Alfonso Gambardella
    Alfonso Gambardella
    Università Bocconi
    1 Course•9,063 learners
    Arnaldo Camuffo
    Arnaldo Camuffo
    Università Bocconi
    1 Course•9,063 learners

    Instructors

    Instructor ratings

    We asked all learners to give feedback on our instructors based on the quality of their teaching style.

    4.6 (18 ratings)
    Alfonso Gambardella
    Alfonso Gambardella
    Università Bocconi
    1 Course•9,063 learners
    Arnaldo Camuffo
    Arnaldo Camuffo
    Università Bocconi
    1 Course•9,063 learners
    Chiara Spina
    Chiara Spina
    Università Bocconi
    1 Course•9,063 learners

    Offered by

    Università Bocconi

    Offered by

    Università Bocconi

    Our ambition is to develop students' potential and foster knowledge in Business, Economics and Law through innovative learning and research activities in a multicultural environment. Bocconi is a community that constantly innovates teaching and learning technologies and that strongly believes in the power of life-long learning and networking. Now available online.

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