| Unit name | Idea to Launch |
|---|---|
| Unit code | INOVM0019 |
| Credit points | 40 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Mr. Neild |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
Tools and Methods for Innovation |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
NA |
| School/department | Centre for Innovation |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Why is this unit important?
This unit will explain how to set up a new venture from idea to launch; including both commercial entities and social enterprises and both intrapreneurial and entrepreneurial ventures; all dependent on your degree pathway.
This unit takes you through a sequence showing what it means to be an entrepreneur, including a broad understanding of the entrepreneur role, from the risk-taking and emotional concerns of starting an enterprise through to the development of a robust enterprise plan covering the practical, financial, and legal requirements of setting up and maintaining a new social or commercial enterprise.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
You will work in an agile manner in groups of your own choosing to research, prototype, and demonstrate early evidence for a venture agreed by the group.
This unit will give you a starting point in the management and development of a new start-up or spin-out venture. This includes the search and validation of an original idea (including market analysis, intellectual property searches and securing new IP); the development of a business model that fits and covers internal and external requirements of the enterprise; the mission, vision and value of the venture; the capability to translate this enterprise idea into an attractive and feasible enterprise plan; and securing a sustainable competitive advantage are a sequence of planned activities that mark the first milestone of a successful venture.
An overview of content
Fundamental concepts for planning and running an enterprise will be introduced, including market analysis, sales and marketing, competitor analysis, pricing, resources and risk management, financial planning, funding strategies, and legal issues (including company structures, contracts, and intellectual property). We will also look at the mindset and behaviour of those creating new ventures and explore what it means to think and act in an entrepreneurial manner.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
You will have gained both competence and confidence applying your research and design skills to the creation of a Venture. Design Thinking, Systems Thinking and business development knowledge will have been extended and you will be able to select and apply them to a range of real and imagined scenarios. You will have further acknowledged and be able to articulate what thinking and acting like an entrepreneur means to you.
Learning Outcomes
By the completion of this unit students should be able to:
1. Select and apply a range of appropriate tools and approaches to develop a compelling value proposition for a new venture.
2. Critically evaluate the desirability, feasibility, viability, adaptability, and credibility of a proposed new venture.
3. Present a professional-standard plan for a new venture covering all aspects of the market analysis, route to market, strategic advantage, and financial case.
4. Document and reflect critically on the process of discovering and validating a viable value creation opportunity.
5. Demonstrate skills in collaborative opportunity-creation.
Teaching will be focused on interactive studio-style workshop sessions and small-group project work supported by in-person and online lectures. There will be a lot of time given over to group-work, both in the classroom and conducting fieldwork beyond the classroom. This simulates the group-based professional context of entrepreneurial venture creation and allows for the kind of discussion, debate, and diversity of perspective that really stimulates transformative creative learning.
Teaching and assessment are focused on real-world problems, with real user perspectives gathered through student research, to add to the authenticity of what is being learnt and why.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
Teaching on the unit is highly interactive and weekly discussions and project work conducted with both peers and academic staff will help you develop your practice, test your methods and ideas, and hone your professional use of the tools and methods taught. Students will be asked to show and tell their peers and staff about their ongoing project work, receiving feedback and constructive critique. There will be opportunities to submit early drafts of both group and individual work for staff feedback.
The Venture Plan and Design Document assessments are iterations of assessments students have undertaken on the prerequisite unit (and elsewhere if they study Innovation). They also prefigure the assessments on the dissertation unit in the Innovation PGT pathways.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
Venture Plan (group assessment) 50%
5000 words
Design Document (individual assessment) 50%
3000 words
When an assessment does not go to plan
In the case of the individual Design Document a student who was not able to take or pass the assessment at the first attempt would get a fresh attempt to pass the same assessment. In the case of the group Venture Plan we would enable anyone who was not able to take or pass the assessment at this first attempt an individual assessment in the form of an individual critique of their group’s original Venture Plan highlighting areas for improvement and development through better use of the taught methods.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. INOVM0019).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an
assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
