Knowledge-Driven New Product Development:
Certification Course

Firms not only create new products through systematic processes, but also produce new knowledge that should be captured and re-used to enable greater opportunity for future innovation. Through this new, exclusive certification course developed and presented by two doctorate-level professors with extensive industry experience in new product development (NPD), participants will develop a vision for knowledge-driven NPD within their own enterprise.

The following course topics highlight the elements critical to supporting NPD:

  1. Measuring Innovation | This module will focus on developing a definition and metrics for innovation that support product development.
  2. IT-enabled Design | This module will focus on the integration of formalized design processes and knowledge management applications that support collaboration, project management and individual design tools.
  3. Systems-level Thinking | This module will focus on the importance of leveraging multidisciplinary design approaches, optimization, and information infrastructure to strive for improved system-level performance of products.

Participants will be challenged to consider course topics in the context of their own firms through group breakout sessions and activities. They will develop their unique NPD vision using a provided report template and submit to the instructors for review. During an informal one-on-one session, the instructors will provide their critique before participants submit a final report for certification. Participants are encouraged to implement the vision at their worksite.

Registrations will be accepted on a limited basis.

Course Schedule:

Classroom Dates: September 12, September 19, & September 26, 2012, 6-9pm
Instructor Meeting Dates: Each candidate will meet with the instructors for one 45 minute period on one of the following dates for a critique of their report. November 1, November 5, November 7, or November 8, 2012, between 6 and 9pm
Venue: UB Baird Research Park/Technology Incubator, 1576 Sweet Home Rd, Amherst, NY