Academic Information

Fact-Sheet

Objectives

The goal of this course is to experience innovation first-hand. You'll work in a mixed team of Engineers (UPC) and Business Students (ESADE) to tackle real-life innovation challenges launched by different organizations. The challenges come from top research scientist at CERN and other key research groups in Europe. As a team, you will produce innovative technical solutions that are financially sustainable to the challenge, test these ideas in real context and at the end of the course present a final proposal key people in the case-owner organization. This course is managed in partnership with MSc in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ESADE). You can find more information about the course, past challenges and teams in the course website.

Contents

Kick-off Week (at ESADE Sant Cugat Campus): This week focuses on getting each team started with their challenge and project work. During the week, teams will go once through the full process of understanding the challenge to proposing and testing a solution. The objective is to give the team a kick- start to the project, create a shared understanding of what the project is about and establish a good starting point for the teamwork itself. The week is rather tightly programmed. There are class sessions, facilitated workshops and time for teamwork on given assignments. The class sessions and workshops are delivered by different members of the course faculty, and you will be provided a detailed program of the week in advance.

The class sessions and workshops of the kick-off week include:

On the last day of the kick-off week, we will have the first Checkpoint Presentations.

Weekly Team-Work: Outside of the two intensive weeks (kick-off week and mid-term intensive week) teams carry out independent teamwork, based on the project plan prepared in the kick-off week and advice provided by the coach. For the preparation of the project plan, each team is given instructions and guidance during the kick-off week. This plan is reviewed and adapted in the coaching sessions, together with the coach.

Coaching Session: Each team has their own coach, whose objective is to support and guide the team throughout the course. The coach will also attend the final presentation and provide feedback on the final deliverables. The coaches are experienced practitioners working in the field of innovation and collaborators of UPC and ESADE. They have been chosen based on their experience in the type of projects I2P represents and have all been trained for the requirements of I2P.

Mid-term Week (at UPC Campus): The mid-term intensive week focuses on creating and testing prototype(s). You will receive the assignment for the week on Monday morning. This week is significantly less structured and programmed compared with the kick-off week. We will have class sessions each morning of the week. These class sessions focus on technologies and themes that are central to the solutions the teams are developing. Therefore, we will only define these sessions few weeks prior to the mid-term intensive (once we know what direction your projects are taking). Besides the class sessions, the rest of the week is dedicated to teamwork on the given assignment. On Friday of the mid-term intensive all teams will present their prototype and results from testing in the Prototype Expo. Here, we will have the chance to view all projects and their prototypes. This activity counts as the second Checkpoint Presentation.

Rehearsal and Final Presentation: This activity represents a rehearsal of the final presentation as well as the final presentation to key people of case-owner. The rehearsal is performed in front of the other teams, coaches and profs.

Evaluation Methodolgoy

The Process = 60%

The quality of the process (research, idea development, prototyping, testing, iteration) each team goes through is the most significant point for evaluation. This accounts for 55% of the grade.

What we evaluate here, is the team's ability to lead the project through a well-argued learning process, both in the problem- as well as in the solution space. Some of the criteria for evaluating the process of the team: Is the team aware of the choices they make in the project? Are the choices and decisions well-grounded in evidence? Is the team aware of uncertainties or assumptions that are present in the project? Does the team manage well the time available?

The Outcome = 30%

The evaluation of the outcome is based on 1) the final solution proposed by the team,

2) final presentation of the project, and 3) the final reporting. This accounts for 25% of the grade. Each team will deliver a final presentation and final reporting of their project to the case owner. Instructions for the final presentation are provided in the course website. The final reporting consists of 1) a written report, 2) a video, and 3) the demo. More detailed instructions and mode for delivery are provided in the course website.

Some of the criteria for evaluating the output of the project

1) Final solution: Relevance of the chosen need? Impact of the solution (how well if responds to the challenge and the identified need)? Originality of the solution?

2) Final presentation: Clarity in communicating the project's main aspects?

3) Final deliverable: How well does it represent the work done in the project? How well it takes into account its audience (the case owner)? Does the report deliver a concise and logical story and sufficient evidence to back up the case?

The organization that launched the challenge will also be heard for the evaluation of the project outcome, and this will be taken into account when forming the grade for the outcome.

Individual Participation = 10%

The evaluation of the individual participation to the project work consists of two components: 1) coach's evaluation of individual contribution as observed during the coaching sessions, and 2) an optional peer evaluation.

The project-work is a team-task. Team members will get the same grade for project- related work, but this will be either raised or lowered based on the differences in individual participation in the project work.

The team's coach will observe individual participation during coaching sessions. Some

of the criteria for evaluation individual participation:

Team members can choose to carry out a peer-evaluation if they feel that contribution to the team effort was substantially different. If you feel that the input of one or more team- members was substantially less than average, please inform us by email. We will keep this email confidential yet call on each group member to provide a peer evaluation. Please note, however, that part of the team learning outcome is to work with members with different levels of aspirations, abilities, ideas, etc. Hence, try to solve problems internally. The call for peer evaluation is meant to be a last resort if prior efforts did not succeed.