Business Development Lab 1
Teaching goals
After completion of this module, the students should be able to demonstrate ability to:
- Apply the learned knowledge for development of a new product or business concept.
- Recognize diverse obstacles in transforming an idea or technology into a business project.
- Invent or find solutions to address and solve the project main challenges (customer problem, functionality, business model, development…).
- Work in teams and to reflect upon team processes.
- Drive his project according to the dimensions of (1) customer problem/solution discovery (in relation to the product technical development) and (2) market discovery (strategic thinking) in ways that are relevant to the situation.
- Use analytical business skills to recognize, assess and/or develop business opportunities in relation to all dimensions covered in his project: market, customers, competition, environment and human, material and technical resources.
- Relate the value proposed in his project to all relevant stakeholders.
Course description
The course unit “Business Development Lab 1″ is part of the module Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
This course is a weekly supervised workshop on new innovative business creation. The Business Development Lab lets students work in teams on the development of an ICT business project. This course is mainly concentrated on project work throughout the main phases of a new venture. In addition, the Business Development Lab contains applied lectures from academics and practitioners.
Course content
The BDL course follows the main phases of a business development. (a) idea recognition – (b) business modelling – (c) Costumer and technical development – (d) Business Plan presentation (costumer and investor oriented).
The Business Development Lab course covers:
- Business ethics, sustainability and valuation practices
- Business Model Canvas
- Methods for prototyping
- Lean startup methodology concept (customer discovery, customer validation)
- Methods and tools for evidence-based decision making, iterative development, field work, evidence collection
- Entrepreneurial finance (cash flow management, financial scenarios)
- Other business plan methods and tools (market analysis, strategy, marketing, market entry)
- Intellectual assets management
- Pitching and oral communication
Keywords
Business Model Canvas, Business plan, innovation, technology, Entrepreneurship.
Bibliography
- Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers, by Alex Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur, 2010
- Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers (3rd edition), by Geoffrey A. Moore, 2014
- The Innovator’s DNA : Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators, by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen and Clayton M. Christensen, 2011
- The Startup Owner’s Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company, by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf, 2012
- The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, by Eric Ries, 2011
Biography
Alvaro Pina Stranger is an associate professor and the manager of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology ( EIT) activities at the University Rennes 1. his mission is to develop a space where education, research and business interact and trigger innovative ventures.
Alvaro Pina Stranger holds a Ph.D. in Management of Innovation from Paris-Dauphine University. his doctoral research focuses on technological transfer, innovation and knowledge networks. His current research in the field of the digital economy deals with venture capitalist strategies, technological transfer models, venture incubation and development, geographic economy, social network analysis and the study of innovative start-ups and entrepreneurial finance.Alvaro Pina Stranger is affiliated to the ISTIC and the CREM research laboratories of the University of Rennes 1.