COURSE NUMBER: MBA 294.4

COURSE TITLE: Innovation and Design Speaker Series

UNITS OF CREDIT: 1

INSTRUCTOR: Sara Beckman

STUDENT ORGANIZERS: David Liang and Cynthia Song

E-MAIL ADDRESSES: david_liang@mba.berkeley.edu, cynthia_song@mba.berkeley.edu

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Mondays, 4-6PM, Fall A only

This course will meet on 8/29, 9/12, 9/19, 9/26, 10/3 and 10/10

CLASS FORMAT: Guest speakers from the innovation and design thinking space will share their personal paths and company's story and conduct workshops to expose students to design thinking techniques. Following each class, a small group of students will join the speakers for dinner at Freehouse and will have the opportunity to network in a more intimate setting

REQUIRED READINGS: None. It may be helpful, though not necessary, to understand the term "design thinking" 

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Attendance and class participation. For each class, 1-2 students will be asked to introduce the speakers at the beginning of the class.

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:

What is design thinking?  What does it mean to work in innovation and design-focused roles? How can students apply design thinking techniques to their careers? 

Every week, guest speakers who use innovation and design as part of their daily careers will come and introduce design thinking to students, share how design and innovation strategy is helping their organizations stay ahead of the game, what the opportunities and challenges of this industry are today, as well as their unique career path charting how they got to where they are today. Some guest speakers will also facilitate workshops to help students take a deeper dive into the techniques that design professionals use regularly.

This one-unit course aims to:

- teach some of the fundamentals of design thinking

- showcase how design thinking can be utilized in strategy, product, innovation and culture design

- demonstrate Haas students an overview of innovation and design thinking landscape, both consulting and corporate sides of it

- educate students on the diverse roles which exist within the space, across a range of industries.

SPEAKER LIST: Speakers are currently being finalized

Last year included speakers from the following companies: IDEO, Google Ventures, AirBnB, Autodesk, ideo.org and GravityTank.