In times of a more disruptive, complex and dynamic world than ever experienced before, innovation is no longer a luxury, but the precondition of business survival. Forward-thinking, established companies are turning innovation challenges into opportunities and are teaming up with fast, creative startups to disrupt jointly whole industries. The competition to survive is replaced by collaboration to thrive – to thrive in this new, exciting ecosystem of opportunities.

However, this is only true for selected actors – the majority is not making use of this collaboration potential. This course will guide you how to prepare, plan and implement a mutually beneficial collaboration, regardless if you are a startup, a corporate or generally interested to reap the potentials.

What will you learn in this MOOC?

After finishing this course you should be able to

• recognize the benefits and challenges of Startup-Corporate collaboration,
• characterize the urgency of innovation in the corporate world,
• find and examine matches between potential partners,
• distinguish and explore existing formats of collaboration,
• understand both Startups and Corporates to streamline the collaboration, and
• apply dedicated tools and techniques to overcome collaboration challenges and design a joint roadmap.

How is this course structured?

• Week 1 of the course is all about the „Why“. It outlines the theoretical concept, its relevance and potential for both corporates and startups.
• Week 2 is about the „How“. Different approaches to finding your innovation partner and various formats of co-innovation will be covered.
• Week 3 embraces the corporate perspective, it prepares your company to successfully co-innovate with startups.
• Week 4 is the startup week and will flip the perspective to equip your startup with the necessary insights for co-innovating with a strong, large partner. After week 4, the fast track ends.
• Week 5 & 6 is where the real experience starts and you are invited to continue with two extra weeks in cross-sectoral teams to work on real-life challenges with dedicated tools.

Here's a tentative timeline, deadlines and other dates might still be subject to change.

For whom?

This course is for…

• managers and employees excited to explore a new world of opportunities for their companies,
• entrepreneurs looking for new strong partners to leverage their business to the next level,
• students and people looking for opportunities in general that are open to explore the new dynamics of joint innovation.

How to learn?

The learning journey includes a mix of lightening talks, informative articles, quizzes, discussions and engaging activities to bring the different actors together. Two course tracks – a fast track and a full track – are there to cater individual learning needs.

Along the course, we will introduce dedicated toolbox to support you in your journey, with the „Co-Innovation Builder“ in its center. On top, this MOOC carries the opportunity to qualify for the Co-Innovation Masterclass – a MicroCredential limited to 30 participants with co-innovation bootcamps in Potsdam and Cracow, starting in 2021. Get more information here.

How much time do you need?

The course starts on 22nd of April 2020 and runs over a period of 6 weeks (4 weeks of content and 2 additional weeks of practical transfer of the content learned). Approximately 6 hours of work per week. It is designed to allow flexibility and has the possibility to do more or less, depending on your time availability and topic preferences and interests.

What kind of credential can you get?

• Certificate of participation: Work through of at least 50% of the materials, quizes, resources and discussions of the first 4 weeks.
• Certificate of completion with a fast track record of achievement: Fulfill the requirements for the certificate of participation and pass a multiple choice test at the end of week 4.
• Certificate of completion with a full track record of achievement: Fulfill the requirements of the fast track plus actively participate in a group to work with Co-Innovation Builder in week 5 and complete the peer review process in week 6.
• MicroCredential Certificate valid 6 ECTS: This MOOC is the entry point and pre-requisite to the „Co-Innovation Masterclass“, a MicroCredential that will be offered in spring 2021 for the first time. Get more information here.

No Fees!

Participation at the MOOC and all types of credentials are for free. No fees will be charged at any part of this course.

Anything else?

The main course language is English.
The anonymized data gathered in some of the course activities might be used for the teaching team's research purposes.

This course is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.