Key questions in innovation management
In the world of practice – whether in public of private sector – the challenge of innovation is significant. If organizations fail to change what they offer the world – products and services – and the ways they create and deliver those – processes – then they risk losing competitiveness and will lack the ability to grow. But recognizing the need to innovate is not the same as knowing how to do this effectively – there is also a need to understand how to manage innovation. This raises some key questions for any organization, as shown below:
DICAMP will develop a master programme in innovation management that conveys to students the skills how to create innovations and how to lead them to success, while creating entrepreneurial thinking. The programme will include some core principles. The courses will be modular in structure and involve an integrating dissertation.
Objectives
The master programme will meet the following objectives:
- to contribute to the modernization of the study programs by launching a new master programme in the field of innovation
- to take the business administration and management perspectives into account
- to satisfy the requirements of the Bologna agreement
- to adapt to the economic and cultural situation in Tunisia
- to meet high standards of an international and reputable accreditation institute
- to be seen as a typical model that other Tunisian universities can copy in order to improve their existing master programmes
Development
The competencies and skills of innovation management, as a multi-dimensional issue, will be transferred within a two years integrative master study programme.
Structure of the designed programme
Year 1
Basic coverage of ‘foundation’ elements in innovation management – topics like
- innovation strategy
- project management
- new product/service development
- entrepreneurship
- intellectual property management.
Year 2
Research-led range of courses which explore ‘frontier’ issues in innovation management – such as
- ‘open innovation’
- user-led innovation
- service innovation
- design-driven innovation.
→ Identification of modules and brief description of their contents 
Accreditation
In order to comply with national and international accreditation requirements, the programme consists of 120 European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), spread over 4 semesters. 3 semesters are taught, each containing 30 credits giving a total of 90 ECTS. The 4th semester is a dissertation element equivalent to 30 ECTS. The course is designed around 15 modules, each of which is equivalent to 6 ECTS, giving the total of 90 ECTS.
The master programme Innovation Management received the accreditation from the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education in the middle of July 2012.
Implementation
The Master Programme will be implemented at three Tunisian universities. 30 students (10 from each university) will be selected for the programme. To prepare them for the programme, all students attend an intensive 6 weeks course in Business English. The programme will start on October 2nd, 2012. During the programme every student has the opportunity to join a research team in Europe. 18 students do their project studies (1.5 months) in Europe, and 12 students in Tunisia. For the master theses (3 months), the group of students that was abroad during the project study stays in Tunisia, and vice versa.
