Science Based
Entrepreneurship
Master Science and Business Management – Fundamental of Business Economics
Utrecht University
,DESIGN THINKING
,Week 1 & 2 – Design thinking
Introduction to innovation and design thinking
Entrepreneurship can be defined as the activity of setting up a business or business, taking on
financial risks in the hope of profit.
Innovation = creativity + implementation the idea is not enough; you have to implement it.
One must have an idea and find a way to get it out there. Recognizing a problem and finding a
solution creative however without implementation there is no innovation. Creativity often
happens fast. Implementation and innovation take more time; this is also key with design
thinking: You can have an interesting idea, but if you don't implement it, it is not innovation.
Constraints are often seen as negative, however, without constraints humans would not need
to innovate. Reconsider constraints to be inevitable and ultimately helpful; they force you to
focus your attention. However, sometimes people THINK there are constraints, when there are
not Just because something is hard, it does not mean it is impossible!
- Example: The statue of David was actually started by another artist, but the artist died.
Michelangelo had to pick up where the former artist left off and use the cuts that the
former artist had made in the marble. These constraints could have been used as
excuses, but instead Michelangelo focused and created something amazing anyway.
There are mythical constraints where you say, "I can't do it because ... ", but there are also real
constraints. Real constraints help focus your energy. In short, Reframing constraints can allow
you to see the problem and opportunity in a new way. Perhaps a constraint is really an
opportunity.
The role of failure: Routine work is something that is done in a way that reduces its potential
of failure. Innovative work increases the amount of variance and often experiences more
failure. There are times for both kinds of work. For example, while flying an airplane, one
should do routine work. The pilot should not experiment or vary the work because the pilot
does not want to fail i.e. crash the plane. However, if someone is designing a new plane,
innovative work should be used during the early stages to design the best and most innovative
plane possible.
As we compare innovative and routine work, we have to see what goals are at stake and what
the best and most ideal solutions are. To organize routine work we will exploit the old ways
and to organize innovative work explore new ones:
Exploiting Old Ways: Organizing for Routine Work Exploring New Ways: Organizing for Innovative Work
Drive out variance Enhance variance
See old things in old ways See old things in new ways
Replicate the past Break from the past
Goal: Make money now Goal: Make money later
, - Example: WD-40 was named WD-40 because the company had 39 failed versions of
the formula before they found one that worked. Today, this worldwide product is used
for a variety of home repairs and maintenance. At this point, it would not be wise for
the company to do innovative work with the formula; as variation would be bad since
quality of this specific product is maintained and replicated globally.
IDEO: One of the most successful design and innovation firms, headquartered in Palo Alto,
California. IDEO is a successful design and innovation firm in Palo Alto. They are most famous
for creating the first computer mouse for Apple in 1980.
Design thinking process:
The design thinking process starts by understanding people before you define the problem.
You iterate your way to a big idea as opposed to assuming you know the right answer from the
beginning.
Another way to say this is that we define the problem in the middle of the process, after we
have confidence in what the needs are.
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