ENGN 3230: Engineering Innovation
24 July 2013
TODAY’S AGENDA
Introduction • The ENGN3230 team
• Content & assessment • Code of conduct Getting started • What do we mean by innovation? • Generating ideas • Next steps
We recognise and respect the special place, culture and contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY
“We acknowledge and celebrate the First Australians on whose traditional lands we meet, and pay our respects to the elders of the Ngunnawal people past and present.”
INNOVATION
Bureaucratic definition [1]: The implementation of a new or improved product, service, process, marketing method or organisational method in business practices … [1]
OK, let’s not dwell on dictionary definitions. However, to set the tone for the course, let’s be clear about the difference between invention and innovation:
Invention
Innovation vs. The creation of new scientific or technical ideas
Turning those ideas into money (or social utility)
Sources: [1] Paraphrased from the OECD Oslo Manual, 3rd edition (2005) "The Measurement of Scientific and Technological Activities"
CONTEXTS FOR INNOVATION
Start-up • Small team • Multi-tasking, multi-skilled personnel • Tactical focus • High risk tolerance
Large company or institution • Cast of hundreds/thousands • Extreme specialisation in personnel • Portfolio of existing projects and new ventures • Corporate - and individual risk tolerance often low
• Most likely you will start your career in a larger company, so we will examine perspectives around e.g. – Managing an R&D portfolio – Navigating stage-gate processes • However large companies grow from smaller ones, and the entrepreneurial mindset is important to master, so we’ll be covering that aspect too
INTRODUCTIONS: THE ENGN3230 TEACHING TEAM
Keith Finlayson - Convener
Academic research Applied research Private