It’s Back! Innovation and Design Thinking MOOC

The University of Cincinnati’s Massive Open Online Course begins October 16th. The course is free and open to all.

You should take this course because 1. you can do it even while you are traveling, and 2. ALL the content is optional. Just surf the content that is most important for your needs.

The course will help you master the tools necessary to generate new ideas and quickly transform those concepts into a viable pipeline of new products and services. Participants will learn the highly effective method of idea generation called Systematic Inventive Thinking used by many global firms across a wide variety of industries. They will also learn a suite of design thinking tools to take new concepts and put “life” into them. Generating ideas is not enough. Design thinking takes new ideas and sculpts them into market-winning products and services. Participants will learn the mechanics of each S.I.T. tool, and practice the use of each on a real product or service. Additionally, they will learn from a panel of seasoned practitioners and experts in the fields of innovation, new product development, and venture start-up.

The course is taught by two industry-practitioners-turned-academics. Drew Boyd is a 30 year industry veteran. He spent seventeen years at Johnson and Johnson in marketing, mergers & acquisitions and international development. He is co-author of Inside the Box: A Proven System of Creativity for Breakthrough Results. Jim Tappel has over 25 years in industry in the engineering and design. This unique perspective from the commercial/marketing side (Drew) and the engineering/design side (Jim) creates a complete picture of what companies need to do to drive innovation and promote organic growth. Both are now full time faculty members at the University of Cincinnati.

The course features guest videos by practitioners in the field who are experts in innovation, design, new product development and venture startup. They are:

• Cindy Tripp, formerly the Director of Global Design Thinking at Procter & Gamble. Cindy led development of P&G’s Design Thinking application for business strategy, organizational design, commercial and product innovation to generate previously unimagined solutions.
• Doug Ladd, Chief Marketing Officer, EndoChoice, Inc., one of the fastest growing medical device companies in the world.
• Sally Kay, Principal, Strategic Product Development. Sally has extensive experience in innovation as a practitioner (25 years) and a consultant with particular focus on the front end of the innovation process. She is active in The Product Development & Management Association (PDMA) for the last 25 years. She chairs The Outstanding Corporate Innovator Award Program.
• Dr. Michael Clem, Vice President R&D – Medical at Kaleidoscope, a leading innovation and design firm. Mike is an innovation leader with a successful track record of developing and leading teams to deliver winning solutions. He spent over 20 years in technology and R&D programs with Johnson & Johnson companies.
• Elizabeth Edwards, CEO at Metro Innovation and author of Startup: The Complete Handbook for Launching a Company for Less. She is a venture capital and economic development strategist focused on helping cities and regions develop stronger entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Participants who successfully complete the course and enroll as a new student at the University of Cincinnati will receive graduate credits that can be applied toward either an MBA degree from the Lindner College of Business or a Master of Engineering degree through the College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Join us on October 16, 2014 for the start of Innovation and Design Thinking.  Content links will be available approximately one week prior to the course’s start date. The course will start on October 16 and be completed on November 20.