The University of Sydney offers high achieving students enrichment units, mentoring, and development opportunities through the Dalyell Scholars program. The Business School’s program “aims to nurture future leaders ready to create innovative solutions to disrupt the world for good”.
In recent years there have been strong calls from industry to develop innovation skills and capabilities of graduates, particularly management graduates. Among these skills are problem solving, teamwork, ideation, and communication (Hall et al., 2013).
Within the Business School program, the Innovation In Organisations unit is designed to develop innovation skills. Innovation that is not only centred around Human Centred Design principles of feasibility, viability, desirability; but also social responsibility. During the course of 2023, the unit has undergone a redesign to broaden the context of the learning for students. We work with diverse industry partner organisations each semester to craft a rigorous authentic assessment experience that is now focused on responsible and sustainable innovation. This is a priority not only of the university, but also a shared priority among our industry partners. Guided by the industry partner’s strategic priorities, the students are directed through a structured innovation process and develop skills to design a creative and unique innovation. These skills provide the students a foundation for innovation skill development.
Who are the industry partners?
The composition and experience of the student cohort influences the selection of the industry partner each semester. Typically comprising predominantly second-year business school students, followed by first and third-year students, the cohort also includes disciplines such as Arts, Law, Science, and Engineering. Industry partners are chosen based on students’ familiarity with the organisation, often leaning towards Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies, which a vast majority of students connect with. Recent partners have included: The Arnott’s Group, Woolworths Supermarkets and Abercrombie Terrace Café.
Small commitment with a big impact
Securing commitment involvement from industry partners hinges on a carefully designed schedule that minimizes their commitment while affording a rich learning experience from the students’ perspective. The industry partner participates in a Q&A session, conducts an interim review and judges the final student group pitches.
For industry partners, this collaboration fosters a deeper connection with the university, providing them with insights into the undergraduate program and gives them access to high-performing students. They also gain valuable external perspectives on their organisation, potentially unearthing areas ripe for innovation. Moreover, they can compare student solutions with those developed by experienced internal teams, offering a fresh and diverse lens on innovation. The Arnott’s Group advised in semester 2 2023: “the results are very similar to what we are doing back in Head Office.”
Authentic problem-solving
Students from different disciplines are allocated to groups, reflecting workplace team formation. These groups commence the innovation process by comprehensively researching the organisation. This understanding is cultivated from an external perspective, utilizing publicly available information such as industry reports, corporate websites, and academic journal articles.
Following the initial research, the industry partner participates in a Q&A session with the students. This approach grants students the chance to engage in interviews with industry experts, allowing them to refine their research, comprehend crucial decisions made by the industry partner, and define the core problem to be addressed.
Students then employ principles of human-centered design, design thinking, and responsible innovation practices together with their discipline specific tools to draft solutions. These solutions are provided to the industry partner to review. High level feedback is provided to the students on connection between the identified problem and the strategic focus area. The industry partner also provides feedback on creativity and uniqueness of the solution and any issues. This feedback is invaluable to the students as it provides the students with further (industry) perspective, including the priority of solving the identified problems.
Students continue to iterate and build their solution to prepare a recorded pitch for the industry partner. During the final class their pitches are played for the industry partner and a preferred innovation solution is selected. Their final assessment is to write a reflection on the challenges they encountered in developing their solution. One key reflection is often the cycles of design and feedback from the industry partner in particular which develops skills of resilience and evaluative judgement (Tai et al., 2018).
Transformational learning
Student ideas and perceptions of innovation are transformed in this unit. They are challenged by working in multidisciplinary groups to determine a problem and develop a creative and unique solution. The feedback they receive from the industry partner compels them to pivot and revise ideas. Students are supported by each other and the teaching team in the classroom to do this.
Both students and industry partners value the experience and see the benefits of working together. As one student in semester 2, 2023 advised, it “simulates sensation of contributing to a greater cause and making real impact” … in developing a solution to support the industry partner’s sustainability strategy. Similarly, the Woolworths team on viewing the pitches in semester 1 2023 could see the depth of work the students put into their solutions, “the level of thinking, creativity and ability to adapt … came across really well.”
Ultimately, the unit’s success hinges on the alignment of the innovation project design with the strategic objectives of the industry partner, coupled with steadfast support for students during the peaks and troughs of their innovation journey.