The primary purpose of this course is to provide students with an in-depth understanding of state-of-the-art practices in new product & service innovation, with an emphasis on the early up-front stages of the innovation process. The course applies the Design Thinking framework and methodology. Topics covered include problem space defining, innovation processes, needs-driven opportunity identification, inventive opportunity identification, customer journey mapping, qualitative and quantitative agile design research methods, iterative ideation, idea screening model, new product concept prototyping, concept optimization and testing, new product forecasting methods (including innovation diffusion models), growth hacking for new channels, brand/promotion/customer acquisition of early adopters, and new product business cases and launch plans. A series of group projects enables students to apply these tools on an actual client "lab" project.

This course covers tech, consumer, and business-to-business products and services (with an emphasis on tech and consumer products/services), including examples from web applications, mobile apps, e-commerce, fin tech, food and beverage, household consumer products, telecommunication services, software, services, healthcare, and financial services.

• Group projects are real-world innovation projects with leading companies as sponsors across a range of industries. Student teams work closely with their clients, with the guidance of a faculty coach, to uncover unmet customer needs, generate ideas, develop new product/service concept prototypes, test those concepts quantitatively with a representative group of target consumers using a professional market research firm, and make recommendations to their clients. Expect to spend approximately eight hours per week outside of class.

Spring 2023 Timeline
Students do not bid on this course. Rather, interested students complete an online application for this Lab course.

1. An Informational Webinar will be held on Tuesday, January 31 at noon CST. This webinar gives details about the class, the application process, the potential client projects, and timing. An email is sent prior to the webinar to all Booth students regarding the process and Zoom information.

2. Applications are due by Thursday, February 2 by midnight, and acceptances announced by February 7. Accepted students are automatically registered and enrolled for zero bidding points.

Business 37000 or 37100: Can be taken concurrently. Not strict. No non-Booth students, including Dougan Scholars. Application and acceptance into course required. Course cannot be dropped once enrolled. Cannot be taken if 37200 “New Products and Services” or 37810 "New Product Development" already have been completed.

This course includes a text, case studies, and readings from practitioners and academics. Every effort is made to invite one or more practicing product developers as guest lecturers. Students use online platforms from several leading agile market research vendors to complete target user research and data gathering. This course is an experiential learning course and emphasizes the practical application of product innovation and design thinking theory.