Future-Fit Innovation
Overview
The future can’t be predicted but organisations can prepare for it. This unit will teach the entrepreneurs of tomorrow to grapple with the challenge of bringing innovation to life in a rapidly changing world. It offers experiential learning in futures-focused innovation practice for startups and other organisations. Students will learn to identify drivers of change, anticipate risks, and respond to uncertainty. The skills and theory they will learn will improve the odds for their innovations to survive and thrive through organisational transitions and uncertain times.
Requisites
08-September-2024
01-June-2025
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Articulate the nexus of entrepreneurship and innovation, and connections to environmental, social, technological and economic factors
- Experiment with practical methods and tools for embedding prospective thinking in entrepreneurship and innovation
- Critically reflect on opportunities for entrepreneurship and innovation at societal, cultural, economic, organisational and commercial levels
- Identify opportunities for future-fit innovation in complex, non-linear and liminal contexts
- Apply futures literacy to reflect on real world artefacts and practices
- Interrogate the long-term consequences of innovation and entrepreneurial practice
Teaching methods
All applicable locations
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
On Campus Lab |
4 | 6 weeks | 24 |
Online Learning Activities |
2 | 6 weeks | 12 |
Unspecified Learning Activities Independent Learning |
19 | 6 weeks | 114 |
| Total | 150 |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULOs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reflective Journal | Individial | Pass/Fail | 1,3,5,6 |
| Workshop | Group | Pass/Fail | 2,3,4,5,6 |
| Project | Group | Pass/Fail | 1,2,3,4,5,6 |
| Report | Individual | Pass/Fail | 2,3,4,5,6 |
Content
- Approaches to mission-oriented innovation and its implementation in entrepreneurial practice
- Interdisciplinary collaboration
- Co-creation and evaluation of innovation opportunities and outcomes
- Tools and methods for future fit innovation including futures literacy and strategic foresight methods and tools including Futures Triangle, Futures Cone, environmental scanning, Harman Fan, Design Fiction and The Thing From The Future
- Scenarios and forecasting and VUCA vs BANI
- Systems thinking for managing innovation risk and embedding sustainability
- Identifying opportunities for innovation in entrepreneurial projects
- Narrative and storytelling as part of communication and presentation
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.