Digital Innovation and Society - SUMMER COURSE

Introduction

This Summer course belongs to "Global Innovation Challenge". The course is open to BI MSc in Business students only, and international students.

In the contemporary digital landscape, platforms such as OpenAI, Google, Amazon, or Meta have transcended traditional business paradigms, acting as both mediators and value drivers in various economic sectors. Their proliferation signifies a shift in how we conceptualize work, societal interaction, and the creation of value. These platforms, whether they are vast global enterprises or specialized local entities, exhibit a common denominator: a well-structured platform at their core.

This course aims to comprehensively examine the intricacies of the platform economy, emphasizing its strategic foundation, intuitive architecture, and holistic design principles. Additionally, the course underscores the importance of content accessibility and integration within the broader platform ecosystem.

The modern innovation manager’s role is multifaceted. It involves not only interacting with these platforms but also possessing the acumen to understand, evolve, and manage them effectively. Through a rigorous amalgamation of theoretical insights on platform strategy and firsthand experiences shared by industry practitioners, this course provides a robust exploration into platform development. In this course, you will also engage actively with user experience management tools, enabling a well-rounded understanding of all facets of platform creation and maintenance.

Join us in dissecting the platform economy, a cornerstone of today's digital age.

Course content

1. Platform Strategy – we will be looking at techniques to understanding audiences (gains, pains, goals), markets (and how to learn from the best in class digital applications), as well as to set up visions & goals for a digital product (timing, resources, scope).
2. Architecture and Design – here we will be exploring how to define and prioritize key features of digital products, how to set up product structures/architectures, and how to design digital user experiences.
3. Building and Scaling the Platform – in this part, we discuss how to implement digital products, and the management techniques to assist this implementation. We will be looking at agile vs. waterfall Development, application testing and prototyping, decisions between self-development vs. integrating partners (build, partner, invest) and at cornerstones of successful collaborations.
4. Creating the Right Content – will lead us through a number of techniques to help a digital product find its audience, the methods we will be specifically looking comprise how to set up editorial plans, how to reach the right audiences through SEO strategies, and how to work with content creators (e.g. Influencers, Journalists etc.)
5. Monitoring, Maintenance and Continuous Refinement – where we will be looking at how to continuously improve digital productions, through techniques such as defining key-metrics and KPIs (quantitively), measurement dashboards, and processes of continuously learning from user behavior (quantitively and qualitatively), all feeding into maintaining an active innovation pipeline
6. Incorporating Fair Design Principles – finally, we will be looking how to design digital products socially responsibly, through measures that are intended to ensure universal accessibility, and through privacy and participation mechanisms.