Innovation and Intrapreneurship for Engineers

Details

1-day course

CPD Credit: 6 hours, C3

Course Overview

Do you want to excel at innovation? This one-day workshop will help you to focus your creativity and rekindle the entrepreneurial thinking that inspired you to become an engineer. Whether you are working within a large or small company environment, or even as an independent engineer, this workshop will help you to identify innovations in your department/organisation, or for your clients. It will show you how to identify material problems and generate ideas and solutions with commercial possibilities, validate them and turn them into viable and scalable realities.

Learning objectives

Attendees will learn about innovation thinking, identifying challenges and unmet needs. How to trigger a continuous stream of new ideas (active ideation) and fast-filter the ones that require in-depth validation. We will also explore the requirements for an innovation culture in organisations, identifying the key characteristics of intrapreneurs, disruptive innovation, open innovation and developing innovation capital.

Attendees will also learn how to maximise the use of business tools in preparing robust business cases/plans, pitch decks or requests for funding.

Course outline

This workshop takes a practical approach to the complete process from the ideation phase through to the validation and implementation phases. And, using the BMAP© process, it will show how to get a speedy determination of whether a business idea has legs or not.

Among the topics the course will cover are:

Theory and Culture

  • The importance of an innovation culture
  • The Intrapreneur vs the Entrepreneur
  • Innovation thinking vs design thinking
  • Psychological safety vs intellectual honesty
  • Dealing with failure

The Ideation Phase

  • Onboarding
  • The innovation source map
  • Trigger questions
  • Word clouds and ranking
  • Project selection criteria and weighting factors
  • The alpha list

The Validation Phase

  • The BMAP© validation methodology
  • Business models and the Business Model Canvas
  • Practical applications of business tools
  • Rapid analysis using trigger sheets
  • Marketing channel traction (digital and traditional media)
  • Financial forecasting and break-even analysis
  • Business case/Business plan/Pitch deck/Request for funding

The Implementation Phase

  • Implementation roadmaps
  • Metered funding, competition and staying lean
  • H&S and Compliance roadmap
  • Innovation Management Systems
  • ISO56002

Who Should Attend?

Engineers and managers with an interest in all things Innovation, or who wish to follow a career in innovation or are already planning new product or service launches.

Facilitator Profiles

Liam Fennelly is a Chartered Engineer and has worked for several multinationals both home and abroad. He holds an MBA from Warwick Business School and has been involved at founder/director level in seven start-ups. He has been a mentor and business consultant for over 15 years and is co-author of Countdown To Launch, the highly-recommended manual for start-ups based on the BMAP© process.

Greg Devlin is an MBA graduate with over 30 years’ experience in business, working with companies and non-profits of all sizes from owner managers to multinationals with global brands. He has set up, owned and managed businesses and has learned by experience ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’. For 10 years he taught part-time on the MSc in Organization and Management at Queens University Belfast. He is co-author of Countdown To Launch, and co-creator of the BMAP© process.

Testimonials

  • Gavin Duffy, Dragons’ Den Investor: “Highly recommend”
  • Stuart Crainer, Co-Founder - Thinkers 50: “Accessible and highly practical”
  • Martin Kelleher, Partner - Mason Hayes and Curran: “Transformational, from start to finish”
  • Michael Culligan, CEO - Dublin Business Innovation Centre: “A uniquely practical guide”
  • Sarah-Jane Larkin, Director General - Irish Venture Capital Association: “A really comprehensive ‘how-to guide’ for anyone interested in starting or accelerating their business”
  • Patrick McNamee, Professor Emeritus Business Strategy - Ulster University: “A superb step-by-step guide to make your business a roaring success”

Please contact the Team for further information on scheduled course dates and In-Company options. You can reach us by phone: 01 665 1305 or email cpdtraining@engineersireland.ie