Short Programs
Designing Disruptive Innovation
Date: TBD | Tuition: TBD | Continuing Education Units (CEUs): TBD
*This course has limited enrollment. Apply early to guarantee your spot.
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Course Summary | Learning Objectives | Who Should Attend | Program Outline | Schedule | Lecturers | Location | Updates
Course Summary
In this age of innovation, organizations need critical thinkers who can discern new trends in design and technology, creatively identify opportunities, and propose innovative products, services, and experiences. Big-picture thinking stretches companies to innovate and create disruptive products and services.
In this course, we will provide lectures, hands-on activities, and educational learning expeditions both on and off the MIT Campus. Case studies will allow for practical understanding of models and promote strategic thinking. Discussions will address changes in technology, such as the Internet of Things, wearable computing, and big data, as well as understanding millennials and the shared economy.
Participants will work in groups and be actively involved in the learning process. They will have an opportunity to work directly with new technology – testing it and designing for it. They will visit MIT labs and Boston-based startups and incubators to understand the current landscape and trends in technology, startups, and innovation.
Group work and class hackathons will create opportunities for hands-on problem solving. Participants will also learn how to design innovative user experiences for disruptive innovation across sectors. Ultimately, they will work in pluri-disciplinary groups and imagine innovative products and services.
Fundamentals: Core concepts, understandings and tools (60%)
Latest Developments: Recent advances and future trends (15%)
Industry Applications: Linking theory and real-world (25%)
Lecture: Delivery of material in a lecture format (40%)
Discussion or Groupwork: Participatory learning (30%)
Labs: Demonstrations, experiments, simulations (30%)
Introductory: Appropriate for a general audience (50%)
Specialized: Assumes experience in practice area or field (30%)
Advanced: In-depth explorations at the graduate level (20%)
Learning Objectives
Participants in this course will be able to:
- Understand design methods that foster disruptive innovation.
- Observe products and services in the context of their ecosystems and technological trends.
- Create compelling and meaningful user experiences.
- Develop holistic solutions for incorporating design thinking into existing products and services.
- Expand critical thinking to include ways technology can be applied to create and develop new markets.
Who Should Attend
This course is built for strategy leaders across industries and fields: directors of innovation and technology; chiefs of operation; and department heads or managers of design, marketing, and human resources. In order to facilitate cross-pollination of ideas, approaches, and critical thought, this course welcomes professionals from a wide range of business areas. Potential attendees could come from industries including hospitality, insurance, banking, telecommunications, mobility, energy, lifestyle, retail, and automotive, as well as from government. All participants must bring a willingness and enthusiasm to engage and bring their particular passion and expertise to the table.
Attendees will complete this course with a firm, practical understanding of how diverse modes of thinking can be utilized to create stronger, more innovative business models, product design, customer experiences, and more. With this, they will be able to critically approach their own teams, departments, products, and business strategies with an eye to how practices are changing across industries and develop new strategies for looking at new ideas.
Program Outline
Day 1:
Session One: Introductory lecture and technology test/trial
(Lunch)
Session Two: Group work & discussion
Session Three: Lab visit on MIT campus
Day 2:
Session Four: Lecture & discussion with guest speaker
(Lunch)
Session Five: Lecture and technology testing
Session Six: Breakout groups to discuss final project
Session Seven: Learning expedition to Boston and Cambridge incubators
Day 3:
Session Eight: Hackathon
(Lunch)
Session Nine: Hackathon
Session Ten: Final project presentations and debrief
Instructors
Federico Casalegno, associate professor of the practice, is the founder and director of the MIT Mobile Experience Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, SHASS, Program in Comparative Media Studies. He has been awarded honorary professorships by the Glasgow School of Art, University of Glasgow, and the Jiangnan University School of Design in Wuxi, China.
A social scientist with an interest in the impact of networked digital technologies on human behavior and society, Professor Casalegno both teaches and leads advanced research at MIT, and designs interactive media to foster connections between people, information, and physical places using cutting-edge information technology.
Between 2004 and 2011, he held the position lecturer at the MIT Media Lab Smart Cities group and from 2006 until 2011 co-directed the MIT Design Lab with Prof. William J. Mitchell.
From 2004 to 2007, he worked at Motorola, Inc. as a technology and product innovation analyst, designing pioneering products, experiences, and services for mobile devices. From 1994 to 2000, he worked at Philips Design on connected communities and new media environments to inform design and product experience planning.
Professor Casalegno holds a PhD in Sociology of Culture and Communication from the Sorbonne University, Paris V, with a focus on mediated communication and social interaction in networked communities and wired cities.
He has published several scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, books, and articles. For the Living Memory connected community project he was awarded the Best Concept prize by the American Leading Industrial Designers I.D. magazine, and the Silver Prize Design Concept by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA).
Location
This course takes place on the MIT campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We can also offer this course for groups of employees at your location. Please complete the Custom Programs request form for further details.