Fundamentals of Product Innovation for Premasters

Please note that if you need to follow this course as a homologation course, you can also follow 1ZP50H in Q4.

The course ‘Fundamentals of Product Innovation for premasters’ is built around lectures and final examination. The lectures start by explaining the overall purpose and objectives of product innovation and by detailing the stages of the product innovation process, which entail predevelopment, development and commercialization respectively. Next, the activities carried out in each stage of the product innovation process and the methods and tools that can be applied are covered step by step.

The predevelopment stage entails activities such as opportunity identification, idea generation and selection, all necessary upfront activities to prioritize the later work in the innovation process. Then, the course looks at concept generation and evaluation, and how selected concepts move to the development stage. Here the course looks at all activities, such as prototyping, cost and demand forecasting, to technically develop and successfully market the new product. Finally, the course proceeds to the commercialization stage, where decisions on the new product launch and the ramping-up of the production need to be taken.

To incorporate some necessary form of product innovation practice, the lectures are accompanied by final individual written examination. The final individual written examination concentrate on different stages and activities of the product innovation process covered during the course.

After the successful completion of the course, students are able to:

• Describe the process of product innovation, explain the importance of its successful operation, and name the most important methods and tools to do so;
• Demonstrate a critical perspective on the application of product innovation processes as well as innovation methods and tools in different types of organizations.
• Recognize the complexities and challenges related to product innovation processes as well as innovation methods and tools in different types of organizations.
• Critically analyze the complexities and challenges related to product innovation processes as well as innovation methods and tool in different types of organizations.
• Improve the product innovation processes as well as innovation methods and tools in different types of organizations.

You must meet the following requirements

• Enrolled for one of the following degree programmes
• HBO-TOP Innovation Management
• Pre-master Innovation Management
• Registered for a degree programme other than
• HBO-TOP Applied Physics, Pre-Master
• Completed none of the course modules listed below
• Fundamentals of product innovation (1ZV50)
• Product innovation processes (1ZV30)
• Fundamentals of product innovation H (1ZP50H)

• Chapters 1-17 of: Crawford, M. and Di Benedetto, A. (2021): New Products Management, 12th Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, 978-1-260-57508-8 (paperback) 9781260590548 (e-book)
• Scientific articles, lecture slides and lecture videos (if available)