Prerequisites

None

Learning Outcomes and Assessment

This course introduces the topic of innovation as a problem-solving endeavour. Compared with traditional problem solving in physics, innovation as problem solving operates in a more complex space involving a variety of human, institutional and ecological interactions. This module will help students identify and understand the factors at play in the process of converting lab-based research into products and services that can have significant impact on society. It is taught using an adaptation of the Challenge Based Learning approach, where students are in charge of iteratively homing in to a specific challenge to work on during their Innovation Development Group Project, starting with a relatively diffuse idea in the beginning. By the end of the course, students will learn to identify and analyse innovation opportunities, paying particular attention to relevant human, institutional and ecological interactions, understand the competitive landscape and develop a business pitch based on one of their chosen innovation opportunities.

Synopsis

The topics covered in the lectures include:

Innovation; Identifying and Defining Innovation Opportunities – Understanding Innovation as creating contextual benefit, particularly in our present context of global polycrises; Radical and Incremental Innovation; Factors that can assist in identification of innovation opportunities; Generating Innovation Opportunity ideas – Brainstorming, Lateral Thinking, Problem Framing, Technology Maturity, Customer Focussed Innovation; developing S.M.A.R.T. Problem Statements; Identifying key figures of merit; Examples from recent Physics based startups

Developing, Managing and Financing Innovation - Developing a Business Proposition; Understanding the competitive landscape; Business Intelligence from Patent Databases; Market size estimation; Pricing; Market validation techniques – Lean Startup, Pretotyping; Technology validation; Innovation Funnel; Project Management; impact of cashflow on managing innovation; Types of financing available for early stage innovation

Innovation and Sustainability - Understanding short and long term environmental and social sustainability in the context of innovation; Life Cycle Assessment of technological materilas and products; Jevon's Paradox; Ethics in Innovation

People – Communication; Belbin Team Roles; Building effective teams; Persuasion and Negotiation

Pitch Decks, Business Plans and Fundraising - Key contents of a Business Plan; Venture Capital Financing - Due Diligence process; Deal Terms - Valuation/Dilution, Liquidation Preference, Founder Vesting; other avenues for early stage financing

The lectures, and the discussions and other interactive elements within them, are intended to assist students with the group project, rather than for performing the more common function of imparting knowledge that is valuable in itself.

There are four elements of assessment in this module:

1. Innovation opportunities Assignment (incl. peer review exercise)- 30%
2. Contextual Landscape report on a topic linked to the innovation development group project – 20%
3. Innovation Development Group Project - Presentation and Q&A - 40%
4. Final reflective note – 10%

As the assessment style is different from what students attending this module might be familiar with, the course leader will make slots available for students to discuss choices of topics and draft submissions.

All assignments within this module contribute in different ways to the main Innovation Development Group Project. Recent innovation development project topics have included:

• Muon Tomography for Disaster Response
• Hyperspectral Drone Imaging for Rice Disease Detection
• EasyFlo - A wearable, user-friendly blood flow sensor using flexible electronics and Near Field Communication
• Château Lavoisier – Sustainable fine wine using spectroscopy

References

Short required readings will need to be completed before specific sessions. A sample is below:

1. Institute of Physics Business Startup Awards and Lee Lucas Awards citation booklets for the previous three years (eg. 2022, 2023 and 2024)
2. FogHorn Project - Why Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory Killed Off A Brilliant Carbon-Neutral Fuel – FastCompany, 2016
3. Eisaman, Matthew D., et al. "Indirect ocean capture of atmospheric CO₂: Part II. Understanding the cost of negative emissions." International journal of greenhouse gas control 70 (2018): 254-261
4. A123 Systems presentation at NASA Workshop 2007 
5. Powell, D. Pioneering battery maker files for bankruptcy. Nature (2012)
6. Guide to term sheets from Startup Valuation School 

Those who are interested in consulting a textbook are recommended to use the following:

1. Byers, T.H., Dorf, R.C. and Nelson, A. J. and (2019). Technology ventures: from idea to enterprise. 5^th McGraw-Hill ISBN: 9781259875991
2. Iannuzzi, D. (2017). Entrepreneurship for Physicists: A Practical Guide to Move Inventions from University to Market. Morgan & Claypool Publishers.

Additional reading recommendations will be provided with most topics. A sample is below:

1. Drucker, P. F. (2002). The discipline of innovation. Harvard business review, 80(8), 95-102
2. Christensen, C. M., Hall, T., Dillon, K., & Duncan, D. S. (2016). Know your customers’ jobs to be done. Harvard business review, 94(9), 54-62.
3. De Bono, E. (2010). Lateral thinking: a textbook of creativity. Penguin UK.
4. Wedell-Wedellsborg, T. (2017). Are you solving the right problems? Harvard Business Review, 95(1), 76-83.
5. Trippe, A., WIPO, Guidelines for Preparing Patent Landscape Reports.
6. Raworth, K. (2017). A Doughnut for the Anthropocene: humanity's compass in the 21st century. The lancet planetary health, 1(2), e48-e49
7. Giampietro, M., & Mayumi, K. (2018). Unraveling the complexity of the Jevons Paradox: The link between innovation, efficiency, and sustainability. Frontiers in Energy Research, 6, 26.
8. Park, H., Kim, K., Choi, S., & Yoon, J. (2013). A patent intelligence system for strategic technology planning. Expert Systems with Applications, 40(7), 2373-2390.
9. Sinfield, J., & Solis, F. (2016). Finding a lower-risk path to high-impact innovations. MIT Sloan management review, 57(4), 79.
10. Fitzpatrick, R. (2013) “The Mom Test” Create space independent publisher platform, Scotts Valley, California
11. The Y-Combinator Series A Term Sheet background and Term Sheet Template
12. Belbin, R. M. (2012). Team Roles at Work. Routledge