Training: Agility in the Innovation Process

Ever faster product life cycles, development cycles, and innovation cycles, as well as increasing customer demands, require a high degree of flexibility from companies. In order to remain competitive, it is essential to use methods that combine short innovation cycles with a strong customer focus.

Our 3-day training course provides you with practical knowledge on how to successfully use agile methods in the innovation process. What makes this training unique is that you will have the opportunity to go through an agile innovation process yourself as part of a team. You will be accompanied by innovation experts from Fraunhofer IEM, who will introduce you to the background and respective methods in exciting keynote speeches. Our trainers will guide you through the development of your innovation project, adapt flexibly to your challenges and needs, and share their experiences from our projects in the field of innovation management.

In the inspiring environment of our IdeenTriebwerk innovation lab, you will learn how to select ideas based on criteria and develop them systematically. You will acquire the ability to create prototypes, use suitable validation methods, and evaluate the results of customer feedback. Through our practice-oriented training, you will not only understand what agility means in the context of innovation, but you will also be able to actively apply this knowledge in an exemplary innovation process. Take advantage of the opportunity to exchange ideas with other innovators, try out new approaches and methods, and gain inspiration for your future innovation projects.

• You will be able to classify the benefits of agility against the backdrop of different development approaches.
• You will learn how to align innovations with customer requirements and accelerate them within your own company.
• You will know how to design an agile innovation process and understand how to successfully introduce and establish the necessary methods.
• You will learn to develop your own product idea/innovation for your company with the help of guiding questions.
• You will be able to design a prototype for your idea using the tools presented.
• You will be able to apply tools for conducting an experiment in a targeted manner and prepare the results in a suitable form.
• You can incorporate the results of the experiment into the further development of the solution.
• Benefit from the creativity-promoting working environment at IdeenTriebwerk.
• Network with other companies and exchange experiences.
• Receive photo documentation, slides, materials, and literature recommendations as handouts so that you can continue immediately after the training.
• After completing the training, you will have access to high-quality self-study content on the topic of innovation management on our learning platform.

• Why do innovations fail?
• How can failure be counteracted?
• How can you work agilely early on in the innovation process?
• How can you generate ideas for relevant problems?
• How can you find out whether an idea works and should be pursued further?
• How do I implement an agile experiment?
• How do I gather evidence to prove that my idea will be successful?
• How do I hand over my idea to the development team? 

Introduction

• Examples and reasons for the failure of innovations
• Classifying projects according to their degree of complexity
• Introduction to the concept of agility
• Agility in the context of innovation
• Presentation of the maturity model for agile transformation & gap analysis

PLAN

• Agility analysis with regard to existing innovation processes
• Criteria-based idea selection
• Detailing ideas using the IEM Idea Canvas
• The importance of assumptions in relation to ideas 

BUILD

• Formulating, classifying, and evaluating assumptions
• Bringing ideas to life with prototyping
• Getting to know and selecting validation methods

MEASURE

• Planning an agile experiment
• Conducting your own experiment with a customer

LEARN

• Interpreting and evaluating customer feedback

The training is aimed at participants who want to expand their understanding and skills in using agile methods in the innovation process. They should be interested in promoting and implementing innovations and be open to new approaches and methods.