The 10 Best Free Online Courses to Improve Your Knowledge of Innovation
Innovation is the process of implementing new ideas and adapting to change. Without innovation, there would be no progress, and our world would still be in the dark ages.
To aid your knowledge on this important topic, we've compiled the best free online courses that can help you implement new ideas into your life and improve your ability to deal with change—both within yourself and in your business.
Why Improve Innovation Knowledge?
There are many advantages for an organization or a professional who wants to develop innovation as a skill. The ability to find out new ideas, improve productivity and grow profits with innovative solutions is necessary for today's fast-changing environment.
But where can you learn more about innovation if you don't have much experience? There are many sources of information online where you can get new skills, knowledge, and tips on how to be more innovative at work. Here are our top 10 picks of free online courses available now!
1) User Innovation & Entrepreneurship
About this course
Innovation occurs everywhere. The majority of the time, it involves ordinary people solving real problems. Imagine yourself in this situation.
In this course, you will learn how to discover and solve problems. The objective of this course is to evaluate the potential for entrepreneurial innovation in the problems you see in your daily life and around the world. Then, you will iterate until you find the perfect solution. This will lead you to become a user innovator.
What you'll learn
- Learn the fundamental concepts of user innovation, including lead user, sticky information, peer-to-peer diffusion, and diffusion via the market;
- Identify numerous entrepreneurial innovation opportunities using the concept of a lead user;
- Create a viable, feasible solution to the problem that you seek to solve by applying the concept of "solution/need co-forming";
- Utilize entrepreneurial bootstrapping tools and strategies to design your strategy for diffusing your user innovation;
- Apply the insights you gain from exploring innovation's democratization to empower your entrepreneurial contribution.
About the instructors
Eric von Hippel - Professor of Management of Innovation and Engineering Systems • MIT Sloan School of Management
Erdin Beshimov - Lecturer, MIT, and Director of the MIT Bootcamps Program • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Estimated Time:
10 weeks (2-4 hours per week)
Free & Self Paced
Progress at your own speed
2) Design Thinking and Creativity for Innovation
About this course
Regardless of size or type of organization, innovation is important for everyone, including managers, start-up entrepreneurs, government officials, and teachers.
In this course, students learn how to identify and choose opportunities to enable innovation using creativity and design thinking skills. A range of real-world activities enhances and develops creative problem-solving skills. An overview of design thinking tools is provided to aid students in understanding design thinking as a problem-solving approach. These processes are applied to a customer discovery approach to understand these ideas' market value.
What you'll learn
- What is the nature of human creativity and innovation?
- The role of creativity and design thinking in solving complex problems for businesses,
- Design thinking tools and processes,
- Creating better ideas through different creativity and design processes,
- What you can do to improve your ideas' chances of impact by using a variety of tools,
- Using design sprints as a systematic method for generating and testing new ideas to integrate the different elements of the course,
- Creating organizations that support creativity and innovation.
About the instructors
Tim Kastelle - Associate Professor • The University of Queensland
Estimated Time:
10 weeks (8-10 hours per week)
Free & Self Paced
Progress at your own speed
3) Innovation Leadership
About this course
Prof. Bill George, former Medtronic Chair and CEO, teaches you how to become an innovation leader in this original course. In addition to personal stories of exceptional innovation leaders, concepts, exercises, tools, and practical tips to help you become an exceptional innovation leader, Professor George will cover the essential elements of knowing yourself, your unique leadership gifts, motivations, and the purpose of your leadership.
What you'll learn
- The importance of innovation leaders for growth and the scarcity of them
- Create shared value by becoming an innovation leader
- The best way to empower innovators
- Find your "sweet spot" as an innovation leader and discover your purpose
- Creating global impact through innovation
- Leadership lessons from exceptional innovators
- Getting to know yourself through your life story
- The crucibles of leadership and losing your way
- Become self-aware
About the instructors
Bill George - Professor • The Georgia Institute of Technology
Estimated Time:
6 weeks (4-6 hours per week)
Free & Self Paced
Progress at your own speed
4) Digital Technology and Innovation
About this course
In this course, professionals are prepared to handle digital transformations at the intersection of technology and business.
What you'll learn
- An overview of the CIO's role
- IT investment management, portfolio management, vendor management, talent management, and organizational change are key topics in IT management.
- The role of Agile frameworks in IT project management
- Risk management and cybersecurity
- Business analytics, machine learning, and enterprise data management
- Emerging technologies and their role include blockchain, distributed trust, artificial intelligence, and robotic process automation.
About the instructors
Brad Wheeler - James H. Rudy Professor of Information Systems, IU Vice President for IT & CIO emeritus • Indiana University
Alex Lopes - Clinical Professor of Information Systems, Kelley School of Business • Indiana University
Ramesh Venkataraman - Associate Dean and Professor of Information Systems, Kelley School of Business • Indiana University
Estimated Time:
12 weeks (8-10 hours per week)
Free & Self Paced
Progress at your own speed
5) Design, Engineering, and Innovation
About this course
Individuals working in the biomedical sector will benefit from this MOOC by discovering emerging trends and taking their next career step.
What you'll learn
- A brief overview of biomaterials and medical devices
- Quality assurance and clinical testing
- An overview of tissue engineering concepts
- Tissue engineering challenges
- The key concepts of biofabrication
- The development of biomedical products
- Biofabrication trends in current practice
About the instructors
Thomas Scheibel - Prof. Dr. • The University of Bayreuth
Estimated Time:
8 weeks (1-3 hours per week)
Free & Self Paced
Progress at your own speed
6) Agile Innovation and Problem-Solving Skills
About this course
You'll learn how to unleash your team's creative potential by using Agile solution targeting.
What you'll learn
- Managing solution risk and return more effectively with Agile
- Obtaining accurate, effective requirements without delusional "perspectives."
- Structure paradox, or "how constraints drive creativity and luck!"
- Developing complex systems faster and better through test-driven development
- Using the Theory of Constraints to target scope to meet Performance Objectives
About the instructors
John Johnson - Strategic Program Manager, Faculty, Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland • University of Maryland
Estimated Time:
4 weeks (2-3 hours per week)
Free & Self Paced
Progress at your own speed
7) Introduction to Corporate Sustainability, Social Innovation, and Ethics
About this course
Today's society faces many challenges related to sustainability. As a result, governments, media, academics, and industry are increasingly paying attention to sustainability issues.
It is possible for businesses that are often seen as part of the problem to be part of the solution when it comes to sustainable development. Because of this, policymakers, industry leaders, society, and academics are trying to understand how sustainability affects traditional business methods, as well as how sustainable businesses affect traditional businesses. Global executives today face a key challenge: developing a sustainable competitive advantage.
What you'll learn
- Acquire a deeper understanding of the strategic challenges faced by modern organizations in today's global business environment
- Learn about sustainability and triple-bottom-line thinking
- Understand how different industries can benefit from sustainability
- Understanding how business decisions affect ethics
- Learn how business activities can contribute to social innovation.
About the instructors
Paolo Taticchi - Dr • Imperial College Business School
Estimated Time:
6 weeks (2-3 hours per week)
Free & Self Paced
Progress at your own speed
8) Design and innovation of business model
About this course
Business Model Design relies heavily on the skills and leadership of entrepreneurial managers. Finding opportunities and aligning resources to achieve important objectives require a disciplined approach.
Students will develop intuition and visual thinking skills during this course while applying quantitative methods learned in other courses, such as Finance and Economics.
This course focuses on four things:
- Discovering business patterns requires observation.
- System design, visual thinking, mapping, and the organization of complexity.
- A current business model defines white space as "potential activities not specified."
- The art of storytelling and establishing contact.
What you'll learn
- Identify the elements of a business model.
- Utilize visual thinking, mapping, and system design to organize complexity.
- Utilize the BMC to identify key business patterns.
- Identify opportunities by using blank space.
- Storytelling is an integral part of Business Model Design and Innovation.
- Develop business models that take the well-being of the community into account.
- Determine how long and how stressful it will take to solve a problem in different settings and environments.
- Formulate the correct questions to identify underlying problems.
- Connect with the key audience using technology.
About the instructors
Luis Antonio Marquez-Heine - Director del Centro de Innovación y Emprendimiento Campus Santa Fe así como director del Full Time MBA
Estimated Time:
4 weeks (5–8 hours per week)
Free & Self Paced
Progress at your own speed
9) Innovation: From Plan to Product
About this course
Rather than being merely a vehicle for commercialization, business models are viewed as forms of innovation. As students progress through this course, they will learn how to evaluate ongoing market fit and sustainability using multiple business model innovation avenues.
A strategic value of information is introduced in this course, along with the tools and techniques that can be used to analyze and use that information to improve decision-making by introducing an evidence-based approach to innovation management. Customer discovery, prototyping, financial modeling, business plans, and forecasts are some of the tools available.
What you'll learn
- Developing market-relevant ideas through design techniques,
- Improve innovation outcomes by using financial decision-making techniques,
- Implement strategic and operational management frameworks and tools to lead innovation,
- Methods for planning and solving problems,
- Business models and business plans: relationship and use.
About the instructors
Rachel Fitzgerald - Associate Director of Online Education • The University of Queens and Business School
Anna Jenkins - Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation • The University of Queensland
Tim Kastelle - Associate Professor • The University of Queensland
Estimated Time:
10 weeks (8–10 hours per week)
Free & Self Paced
Progress at your own speed
10) Organizational Change & Innovation
About this course
Changing and being innovative is a must in today's uncertain workplace. From firm resistance to enthusiastic engagement, people react differently to change in their organization. Understanding people's reactions to change gives change leaders an edge because how they respond to change impacts organizational outcomes.
During this course, you'll learn about the psychological underpinnings of change, needs assessment and evaluations, and how to capitalize on employee creativity.
What you'll learn
- Identifying the reasons for change resistance and determining whether you are ready for change
- Using change needs analysis and evaluation to increase the likelihood of implementing change with success
- Leaders' strategies for getting buy-in
- Factors that support innovation and creativity in organizations
About the instructors
Joana Kuntz - Associate Professor • University of Canterbury
Fleur Pawsey - Ph.D. • School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing, University of Canterbury
Estimated Time:
6 weeks (6–8 hours per week)
Free & Self Paced
Progress at your own speed
