ENGLISH PROGRAMME (Minor) in Idea & Innovation Management

This course introduces futures-oriented thinking and research. It develops foresight competencies and sets occasions to practice skills for long term and strategic orientation under conditions of uncertainty and complexity. This is a multi-disciplinary course that covers both theoretical foundations and practical applications. It introduces quantitative and qualitative research methods and looks at concrete examples of futures projects. Students will gain insight in how images of the future are shaped and used, develop hands-on experience with their own foresight projects and hone their observational, analytical, critical and creative skills.

Language of instruction: English

Open to (maximum 5) non-IIM incoming Erasmus+ students

 

This course revolves around the creative organisation. We consider creativity as the motor leading to change and innovation and make sure this creativity can thrive from within and is supported and stimulated from above, and we make sure it remains in the organisation.  This is why we look at the three levels of creativity: the individual collaborator, the teams or departments and last but not least the management or the organisation as an entity.  The creative process is dissected into three chronological steps – (1) the strategic orientation, (2) the creation of ideas, and (3) the promotion of ideas. For each of these levels we try to discover the required skills, tools and attitudes. 

Language of instruction: English

Open to (maximum 5) non-IIM incoming Erasmus+ students

Students gain insights into various aspects of multiculturalism, in dealing with diversity, and with navigating in a global context. Intercultural Skills are understood as awareness of the international reality of our (professional) lives in today’s globalised and multicultural society. Innovation usually thrives in an international context.  This is why it is crucial to acquire skills in international business and in international relations. Networking is such an increasingly crucial skill in an ever-globalising world. It all boils down to finding the right people quickly and efficiently, and to determining a good approach to start the communication. The purpose of networking is to create opportunities to reach a personal or joint objective.

Language of instruction: English

Open to (maximum 5) non-IIM incoming Erasmus+ students

Reviewing both cases/companies that are "in the news" and cases/companies that are "evergreens", this course focuses on ‘innovation’ in the broadest sense of the word. Ranging from the BIG domains like Uber, Air BnB, Google; to very small Belgian and international Start-Ups, we will equally cover social aspects on broader innovation topics such as Smart Cities, Sharing Economy, Med Tech, Bitcoin & Fin Tech, etc. And you learn about sources and techniques to maintain and sharpen your screening abilities on "innovation today".  The specific cases and topics allow further reflection on innovation mechanisms in other domains or markets.

Language of instruction: English

This course introduces you to Design Thinking, from the inside out, with an immediate transfer of your obtained knowledge into practice. It is a combination of theoretical principles and real-life cases by top designers; and incorporates successful and failed cases to illustrate the ‘design’ way of thinking. In addition to the process of Design Thinking – its key attributes and created impact –, different ways to analyse the market, to extract learnings and to build on best practices, are utilised from multidisciplinary domains. Learning to distinguish ‘good’ from ‘great’; building design-directed workshops that promote innovation; spotting tools; … all towards the goal of creating a true Design Thinking facilitator.

Language of instruction: English

The innovation case project forms part of the Bachelor in Idea & Innovation Management and proceeds via a series of coaching sessions. It is a sub-topic of the broader subject and frames within the educational discourse, enhancing the programme’s vision of learning by doing. This class is the literal execution of a concrete innovation-related-project for a real client.  This project demonstrates that you have acquired the necessary skill-set to tackle a real innovation problem (possibly within a team-context) and that you can support this with an independent piece of work.


Language of instruction: English

We strongly recommend incoming students to participate in the Survival Dutch course, organised prior to the start of the semester (9-19 September).