This course is part of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation track.
Introduction to Design Thinking and Innovation

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Design Thinking and Innovation

$1,850
Next 7-week session starts January 8th
Leverage design thinking principles and creative problem-solving tools to develop innovative solutions to your most challenging business problems.
7
weeks
6-8
hours per week
7
modules
Self-Paced
with regular deadlines

 This course earns you a Certificate of Completion from HBS Online. What you earn.

Overview
Syllabus
Enrollment
Stories
FAQs

Key Concepts

Approach problems using structured methods of gathering observations, breaking cognitive fixedness, and generating creative ideas for solutions
Apply creative solutions and behavior-change analysis to innovation development and internal team processes
Develop a strategic innovation toolkit and learn when and how to apply design thinking and innovative problem-solving tools and exercises
Practice empathy in applying a human-centered approach to design techniques, such as user research, user experience, prototyping, and journey mapping
Assess group dynamics and improve team performance through tools and processes designed to enhance collaboration and iteration in development
Guide teams to draw from a wide range of professional experiences and backgrounds and create stronger collaboration dynamics to heighten their approach to innovation

Who Will Benefit

Develop an innovation mindset and toolkit you can use to guide your team or organization’s strategy.
"This course is excellent for executives and managers who constantly grapple with finding new ways to make their work impactful and useful for their target audience.”
Cebisa Ncube
Design Thinking and Innovation Participant
Discover frameworks and techniques you can leverage to bring new and innovative products or services to market.
“The course masterfully interwove design thinking theory as a process with helpful tools and outstanding examples from practitioners and companies.”
Sandra Pérez Botero
Design Thinking and Innovation Participant
Create products and services that resonate with your audience by understanding and applying human-centered design.
"I’ve taken many courses from HBS Online because they’re either directly applicable to my career (like this course) or can help me get to where I want to be. This particular course has been the best among them all."
Yashvardhan Gusani
Design Thinking and Innovation Participant

What You Earn

Certificate of Completion

Certificate of Completion

Boost your resume with a Certificate of Completion from HBS Online

Earn by: completing this course

Certificate of Specialization

Certificate of Specialization

Prove your mastery of entrepreneurship and innovation

Earn by: completing any three courses within this subject area to earn a Certificate of Specialization

Syllabus

7 Modules, 40-50 Hours
Download full syllabus

This course features access to an AI course assistant bot, in beta release, to facilitate your successful completion of the course.
6-7
hrs
Module 1

Content Week - Clarify: Empathy and Understanding

Define users' explicit pain points and latent needs to identify the most game-changing part of a problem, and analyze your organization's capacity for innovative thinking.

Highlights

What Is Innovation?
Structuring Observations Using Journey Maps
Changing Lives Through Innovation at BMVSS
What Is Problem Framing?
ShowHide Details

Concepts

  1. An Introduction to Innovation
  2. Clarify Through Observation
  3. Insights and Problem Framing
  4. The Right Enviroment for Creativity

Featured Exercises

  • Problem Framing: Reframe problems from various perspectives (deep, emotional, broad, and dynamic) to identify new pain points and make new solutions possible
6-8
hrs
Module 2

Project Week – Clarify

Practice researching the innovation context and empathizing with users through structured tools.

Highlights

Project Week Assignment
ShowHide Details

Concepts

  1. Project Instructions

Featured Exercises

  • Project: Apply tools from Module 1 to an innovation problem of your own choosing, or a provided scenario
6-7
hrs
Module 3

Content Week - Ideate, Part 1: Tools for Generating Ideas

Develop design principles to create user-focused ideas, experiment with ideation tools, and explore different ideation approaches, such as alternate worlds and brainstorming.

Highlights

Ideation and Cognitive Fixedness
Opportunities in 2 by 2 Frameworks
Innovation at IBM
ShowHide Details

Concepts

  1. Establishing Focus with Design Principles
  2. The Ideation Process: Getting Started with SIT
  3. More SIT Tools for Ideation
  4. Open-Ended Approaches to Generating Ideas
  5. Review of Project Work

Featured Exercises

  • SIT’s Closed World: Divide an existing product, service, model, or strategy into components and manipulate them to break cognitive fixedness and generate ideas
6-7
hrs
Module 4

Content Week - Ideate, Part 2: User Values and Behaviors

Refine innovation ideas using design heuristics and apply research-based personas and behavior models to make innovations easier to adopt.

Highlights

Match Mental Models, Reduce Complexity, and Prevent Errors
Developing Research-Based Personas
Anticipate Needs, Recognize Constraints, and Show Responsiveness
ShowHide Details

Concepts

  1. Design Heuristics for Generating and Refining Ideas
  2. Designing for Behavior Change

Featured Exercises

  • B. J. Fogg Behavioral Model: Identify prompts to improve users’ ability and motivation to engage in a desired behavior
6-8
hrs
Module 5

Project Week - Ideate

Practice generating ideas and evaluating them against research and key insights through structured tools.

Highlights

Project Week Assignment
ShowHide Details

Concepts

  1. Project Instructions

Featured Exercises

  • Project: Apply tools from Modules 3 and 4 to your innovation problem or the provided scenario
6-7
hrs
Module 6

Content Week - Develop: An Experimentation Mindset

Develop, assess, and strengthen innovation concepts, and guide prototyping by creating critical questions related to a concept's desirability, feasibility, and viability.

Highlights

Impact, Difficulty, and Innovation Sweet Spot
Near Far Sweet
Moderna
ShowHide Details

Concepts

  1. Idea Selection and Evaluation
  2. Defining and Refining Your Prototype Plan
  3. Prototyping: From Exploration to Validation
  4. Leading Concept Development

Featured Exercises

  • Concept Poster: Organize all information about an innovation concept to identify critical questions for prototyping
6-7
hrs
Module 7

Content Week - Implement: Communication and Structure

Assess developer and user perspectives for bias, apply frameworks to communicate an innovation's value, and reflect on management skills for sustaining a culture of innovation.

Highlights

The Curse of Knowledge
The Elephant and Rider Framework
A New Healthcare Model at Royal Philips
ShowHide Details

Concepts

  1. Overcoming Developer and User Bias
  2. Strategies for Communicating Value
  3. Managing an Innovation Culture

Featured Exercises

  • Stakeholder Analysis: Compare the resistance and status-quo bias of key stakeholders and develop a communication plan
Free E-Book

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Our Difference

Design Thinking and Innovation equips current and aspiring innovation managers with the design thinking principles and innovative problem-solving tools to solve business challenges and guide their organization’s strategy.
Stay active by engaging in a new activity every three to five minutes and applying your knowledge through two weeks of project work.
Stay active by engaging in a new activity every three to five minutes and applying your knowledge through two weeks of project work.
Get social by collaborating with a global community of peers before, during, and after your course. Learners who successfully complete an HBS Online program will be added to the HBS Online Community's Official Networking Group and gain exclusive access to events and other networking opportunities.
Get social by collaborating with a global community of peers before, during, and after your course. Learners who successfully complete an HBS Online program will be added to the HBS Online Community's Official Networking Group and gain exclusive access to events and other networking opportunities.
Immerse yourself in real-world, case-based examples brought to life by industry-leading experts from companies like Moderna, IBM, T-Mobile, and Royal Philips.
Immerse yourself in real-world, case-based examples brought to life by industry-leading experts from companies like Moderna, IBM, T-Mobile, and Royal Philips.

About the Professor

Srikant Datar
Design Thinking and Innovation

George F. Baker Professor of Administration and Dean of Harvard Business School
"Design Thinkng and Innovation will teach you how to leverage fundamental design thinking principles and innovative problem-solving tools to address business challenges and build products, strategies, teams, and environments for optimal use and performance."

Dates & Eligibility

Starting
Jan
08
7 Weeks  $1,850 + applicable international taxes
Enrollment deadline January 2
View weekly calendar
Enroll Now
Starting
Mar
05
7 Weeks  $1,850 + applicable international taxes
Enrollment deadline February 27
View weekly calendar
Enroll Now
Starting
May
14
7 Weeks  $1,850 + applicable international taxes
Enrollment deadline May 8
View weekly calendar
Enroll Now
  • No documentation required

All learners must be at least 18 years of age, proficient in English, and committed to learning and engaging with fellow participants throughout the course.

Learn about bringing this course to your organization.

Learner Stories

90%
are more self-assured at work
I’ve taken many courses from HBS Online because they’re either directly applicable to my career (like this course) or can help me get to where I want to be. This particular course has been the best among them all.
Yashvardhan Gusani
Design Thinking and Innovation Participant
Learning from an establishment like Harvard Business School and being in a cohort of people from all over the world from a variety of fields was truly monumental for me.
Tina Kamel
Design Thinking and Innovation Participant
* Source: 2019-2020 surveys and course data
 
All FAQs

Design Thinking and Innovation FAQs

You can think of the beta version of the Design Thinking and Innovation AI Course Assistant chat bot in two ways: like a virtual Teaching Assistant who can help you consolidate and confirm your understanding of course concepts, and as a virtual Learner Success Assistant who can help you stay on track with completing the coursework in a timely fashion. When you are finding a particular concept difficult to master, or would like additional examples of a theory, try asking the bot your question in the same way you would phrase it to a human TA. If you have a question pertaining to where or how to submit certain assignments, or one relating to deadlines or time estimates, you can also express those in a similar fashion. Please note that no preexisting familiarity or experience with generative AI is necessary or assumed to use the bot and, while we encourage you to engage with the bot and share your candid feedback on your experience, a lack of engagement with the bot will not adversely impact your eligibility for a certificate of completion.

Participants in Design Thinking and Innovation are eligible for a Certificate of Completion from Harvard Business School Online.

Participants are expected to fully complete all coursework in a thoughtful and timely manner. This will mean meeting each week’s course module deadlines and fully answering questions posed therein. This helps ensure participants proceed through the course at a similar pace and can take full advantage of social learning opportunities. In addition to module and assignment completion, we expect you to offer feedback on others’ reflections and contribute to conversations on the platform. Participants who fail to complete the course requirements will not receive a certificate and will not be eligible to retake the course.

More detailed information on course requirements will be communicated at the start of the course. No grades are assigned for Design Thinking and Innovation. Participants will either be evaluated as complete or not complete.

You will have access to the materials in every prior module as you progress through the program. Access to course materials and the course platform ends 60 days after the final deadline in the program.

At the end of each course module, you will be able to download a PDF summary highlighting key concepts used throughout the course. At the end of the program, you will receive a PDF compilation of all of the module summary documents. We hope the module summary documents will serve as a helpful resource after you finish the course.

Once you've earned your Certificate of Completion, list it on your resume along with the date of completion:

Harvard Business School Online
Certificate in Design Thinking and Innovation
[Cohort Start Month and Year]

List your certificate on your LinkedIn profile under "Education" with the language from the Credential Verification page:

School: Harvard Business School Online
Dates Attended: [The year you participated in the program]
Degree: Other; Certificate in Design Thinking and Innovation
Field of Study: Leave blank
Grade: "Complete"
Activities and Societies: Leave blank

Description:
Design Thinking and Innovation is a 7-week, 40-hour online certificate program from Harvard Business School. Design Thinking and Innovation will teach you how to leverage fundamental design thinking principles and innovative problem-solving tools to address business challenges and build products, strategies, teams, and environments for optimal use and performance.

The program was developed by leading Harvard Business School faculty and is delivered in an active learning environment based on the HBS signature case-based learning model.

Beginning in Module 2 of Design Thinking and Innovation, you will apply the tools you learn in the course to an innovation problem that is important or interesting to you, or you can use a provided scenario. In subsequent modules, you will use your earlier responses to build on your innovation project and make each phase of design thinking relevant to your own work.

No, each individual submits their own work in Design Thinking and Innovation, and all project work can be submitted without sharing it with others in the course. You are encouraged to share with others and ask for feedback, but collaboration isn’t necessary to advance through the course.

 

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