Develop Innovation in a Business or Workplace

• Improve products and services
• Build a more innovative culture
• Upskill yourself and your staff
• Manage risk and improve productivity

What is Innovation?

Innovation may be related to things, it is more about making changes to processes, methods, techniques, services, or products. 

Unlike an invention which is totally new, i.e., it did not exist before, an innovation is something new based on an existing idea or product, or a change made to an existing product or idea. When we innovate, we remake something, rather than invent something.
Innovation vs Improvement

There is clearly an overlap between innovations and improvements. Innovations will usually enhance a process or output and in that way may be said to be an improvement. Not all improvements are innovations. Also, some innovations are not improvements. 
Improvements involve assessing the way something is done to refine it increasing efficiency and effectiveness. Improvements are often only slight tweaks but innovations are larger, wholesale changes that result in broader faster changes. 

Business Innovation

On a smaller scale, innovation is important for businesses because it is a key part of remaining agile in ever-changing environments. This is especially important as we move into more technologically demanding times, where competition may grow rapidly, particularly as the cost of outsourcing and automating labour decreases. In terms of improvement, innovation offers businesses the opportunity to find ways to:

• improve return on investment (ROI)
• increase productivity
• differentiate themselves from the current market
• develop their competitive advantage
• and improve company outcomes and culture.
  
  

What are the Different Types of Innovation?
The main types of innovations are those relating to products, processes, and services.

• Product innovations – these are changes in products that organisations offer. For instance, the introduction of the mobile phone, and later the smartphone. 
  
  
• Process innovations – these concern changes to the way products are manufactured or things are done within an organisation. For instance, using an app to order takeaway instead of phoning a restaurant or cafe.  
  
  
• Service innovations – these are more difficult to define since they can involve elements of product and process innovations. This term is mainly used to describe changes in a service product or service process, where a service product could be public services and a service process could be a service delivery system. 

This course is divided into nine lessons as follows:

Lesson 1. Scope and Nature of Innovation

• Innovation VS Improvement
• Why Innovate?
• Types of Innovation
• Adoption of Innovations
• Developing Innovative Products or Services
• Models of Innovation

Lesson 2. Creative Thinking

• Creativity and Innovation
• What is Creative Thinking
• What Make Employees Creative
• Ways to Improve Creativity
• Creative Thinking VS Critical Thinking

Lesson 3. Design Thinking

• Design Thinking and Innovation
• Design Thinking Process
• Association with Innovation
• Applications of Design Thinking

Lesson 4. The Process

• Innovation Process
• Continuing Innovation
• Case Study

Lesson 5. Managing Risk and Problems

• Managing Risk
• Risks Associated with Innovation
• Scaling Innovation
• Enhancing Employee Innovation
• Innovative Identification of Risks and Risk Management

Lesson 6. Types of Innovation

• Innovation Types
• Innovation Matrix
• The Innovation Lifecycle

Lesson 7. Prototyping

• Why Prototype?
• Product Failures
• Types of Prototyping

Lesson 8. Journey Mapping

• How to Write a Journey Map

Lesson 9. Implementation

• Pilot Testing
• Planning
• KPIs and Tracking
• Roll Out, Bringing to Market
• Benefit Realisation

Course Duration : 100 hours, self paced study