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Course Topics
Problem understanding; problem validation; innovative solution creation; prototyping; solution validation; business modeling; self-assessment of entrepreneurial competence development.

Teaching format
The course consists of 36 hours of classroom activities, corresponding to 48 hours of teaching, as some activities will be carried out in parallel, in different locations. Brief lectures about google design sprint method and design thinking tools. Hands-on projects in the form of problem-based learning.

Educational objectives
INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES (ILO) ILO 1: KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING ILO 1.a The student acquires advanced knowledge and understanding of models for new product development and innovation management within enterprises; ILO 1.b The student acquires advanced knowledge and understanding of business analysis tools and solutions for the development of innovations and organisational knowledge; ILO 1.c The student acquires advanced knowledge and understanding of innovation economics models and systems for regional innovation development; ILO2: ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING ILO 2.a Ability to acquire and select information that may be relevant from an entrepreneurial point of view, also in economic-productive contexts different from those studied; ILO 2.b Ability to select business economics models, suitable for the appropriate analysis of a specific economic-social and productive context; ILO 2.c Ability to acquire and select relevant information to frame cases of innovation (product, service, social, managerial organisational), also different from the studied contexts; ILO 2.d Ability to select product development models, suitable to appropriately analyse a specific economic-productive context ; ILO 2.e Ability to classify, analyse specific innovations and assess their potential; ILO 2.f Ability to select innovation management and organisational knowledge development models, suitable for a specific economic-social-productive context, such as digital transformation, resilience and sustainability; ILO 2.g Ability to select the tools for innovation management and organisational knowledge development, consistent with the models deemed appropriate; ILO 2.h Ability to propose and implement strategic and operational courses of action to foster the development of innovations by a company; ILO 2.i Ability to assess the potential of an innovation within existing companies compared to the creation of a new company (e.g., intrapreneurship, open innovation, etc.). ILO 3: AUTONOMY OF JUDGEMENT ILO 3.a Acquire the ability to analyse complex entrepreneurial problems, such as the elaboration and evaluation of an entrepreneurial project (business plan) or the development of a new product; ILO 3.b Project-based training is particularly suitable for developing autonomy of judgement with respect to situations and problems typical of innovation management and the creation of new businesses.ILO 3.c Autonomy of judgement is developed in the training activities carried out for the preparation of the thesis, as well as in the exercises that accompany the lectures and that involve group discussions and the comparison of individual analyses carried out by students in preparation for the lecture. ILO 4: COMMUNICATION SKILLS ILO 4.a Acquire the ability to describe and communicate in an intercultural context, in a clear and precise manner, problematic situations typical of the management of a new enterprise and the development of innovation, such as, for example, the conditions for the validation of a problem or solution, the prospects and risks associated with a business model or an innovation project. The development of communication competences assumes heterogeneous situations such as, for example, the presence of internal stakeholders (e.g. colleagues, managers, owners), or external stakeholders (e.g. potential investors, suppliers and other business partners) and the ability to sustain an adversarial process; ILO 4.b The achievement of these objectives is assessed in the course of the training activities already mentioned, as well as in the discussion of the final thesis. ILO 5: LEARNING SKILLS ILO 5.a Acquire the ability to study independently, to prepare summaries; ILO 5.b Acquire the ability to identify thematic connections and to establish relationships between different cases and contexts of analysis; ILO 5.c Acquire the ability to frame a new problem systematically and to generate appropriate taxonomie.

Assessment
The assessment of students consists of two components: a group assessment (70% of the final grade) and an individual assessment (30% of the final grade). The group assessment evaluates the team’s work throughout the program, in particular with respect to five major activities and deliverables: 1. Unwrapping the Challenge and Lightning Talks (ILO2, ILO3, ILO4), 2. Empathy Map and How Might We (ILO2, ILO3), 3. Iteration and improvement of early solutions (ILO3, ILO5), 4. Prototype (ILO2, ILO3, ILO4, ILO5), 5. Pitch presentation (ILO4, ILO5). The project course is structured around milestones and deliverables and includes knowledge acquisition and elaboration, as well as the use of tools. Students receive ongoing constructive feedback through the whole process from the coaches, university researchers, professors involved in the initiative, and the companies’ representatives. The individual assessment evaluates each student’s active participation (ILO1, ILO2, ILO3, ILO4, ILO5) throughout the program.

Evaluation criteria
The evaluation criteria are specific for each activity/deliverable. 1. Unwrap the Challenge and Lightning Talks: Ability to acquire, process, and integrate information; 2. Empathy Map, How Might We?: Definition of the target problem and target user; 3. Iteration and improvement of early solutions: Ability to integrate feedback from the company, the Challenge Facilitator, and experts; 4. Prototyping: Transition from a solution idea to the concrete development of a prototype; 5. Pitch presentation: Effective communication and ability to answer the jury’s questions.