• English

At the end of the course the students should:

• have acquired some insight in the process of innovation, as well in a situation of "ab initio" innovation (spin off) as in the situation of a portfolio innovation (existing companies)
• have acquired some insight in the different items of the industrial context and the general environment that matter when bringing innovative ideas to the market
• have acquired some detailed knowledge on the current method of integrated product development
• be able to understand the process of technology assessment and selection, including the assessment of the IP situation of a specific innovative project
• be able to assess and evaluate the feasibility of a specific case of innovation
• be able to understand the building process of a business plan (including the specific part of the financial plan) of an innovative idea; this comprises also knowledge of the essential building blocks such as partnerships, teambuilding, financial planning and budgeting, financing and valuation proposals
  

Introduction. As an introduction to this course some basic definitions and principles are highlighted. Some of the basic innovation models out of literature are discussed.

Quality assessment of science & technology. Some of the types of  R&D are described and the relation to the potential valorisation is discussed.  It appears that the typology of the R&D is rather determinative for the subsequent valorisation trajectory. Next the quality assessment of R&D is treated.

Protection of the intellectual property and  Freedom to Operate. In this chapter we focus on the different means to protect an innovation or an invention. The different Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) defense mechanisms are explained both for "ab initio" as well as for portfolio innovation situations. The position of the owner is described from a small company perspective as well as from a large(r) corporation perspective. Innovation will succeed only on the firm basis of a good IPR position and a maximum freedom to operate. In this chapter items are discussed that are indispensible for bringing innovative ideas successfully to the market. More specifically the next items are dealt with: patents, trademarks, in-licensing, out-licensing, confidentiality, trade secret and non-disclosure agreement.

Integrated Product Development. The "new way" of product development, using an intensively project management guided cross-disciplinary and integrated approach, is discussed by using a top expert experience transfer. A fast and high quality level output product development should lead to shorter product cycles, increasing the refreshment rate of the product gamut eventually resulting in a better competitive position. The students will experience the development of such an entire process.

Product definition versus market. In the first place the concept of added value is discussed and different methods are explained that can be used for determining such an added value stack. Next to the discussion about the methods how to do the primary important product positioning vis-à-vis the acquired intellectual property as well as vis-à-vis the proper company capacities (such as engineering, production), the method is discussed on how to select the proper business model for a specific sub-market. Techniques to assess and approach these sub-markets including methods to do the selection of the first market to enter will be extensively highlighted. Market Critical Factors such as price setting, customer value perception, market penetration en competitive analysis are extensively treated.

Team. This part deals with the utmost important critical factor of young ventures: the team. In the discussion on how to compose a successful team for innovative initiatives the next items are treated: complementarities, coaching, selection and recruitment, motivation, incentives, motivation and commitment. The factor human capital is becoming a more and more important and decisive parameter in the increasingly high tech environment to be able to obtain success in bringing innovations to the market.

Organisation and Innovation. Innovation definitely comes with other organisational forms. We deal with the most remarkable differences of these new forms compared with the classical organisational forms at the level of communication, knowledge management, cross disciplinary collaboration etc.

Business Strategy and Alliances. We try to find out which business strategies do comply best with the achievement of successful innovation. The previously determined business models are to be build up based on partnerships. So the choice of good partners is predominantly important and can be decisive for the eventual success of the valorisation of innovation. This can imply different areas of collaboration such as R&D, production, engineering, marketing, sales and distribution. The criteria to choose the appropriate partner will be discussed. The SWOT analysis technique will be applied and the value added stack method will determine the feasibility and sustainability of such partner relations.

Budget and financing. After having determined the essential components of the business model for innovation, we will deal with the different budgetary components based on a thorough process analysis based budgeting method. The different mechanisms of financing innovation will be discussed based on several specific examples. The European and local mechanisms of financing will be highlighted. The influence of the current crisis situation on the financing for innovation will be discussed.

Business Plan. In this part of the course all the previous elements will be gathered in one comprehensive review, called the business plan, including a full scale financial plan.

Valuation. Finally several methods are discussed to deal with the difficult issue of valuation of innovative projects. This valuation will be strongly dependent on the type of partner that will be involved in the valuation process such as a technology partner, a financer, a distribution partner etc.