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Unit of study_

SMBA6106: Innovation and Corporate Venturing

Intensive November, 2021 [Block mode] - Castlereagh St, Sydney

This unit will provide students with the processes and critical thinking needed to create and deliver innovation in corporate settings. Students will learn the concepts, frameworks and theories of innovation and corporate venturing used to enable innovation across various industries. This unit is designed to integrate learning-by-doing, which will provide students with a foundation to apply action principles needed to kickstart or accelerate their own venturing initiatives. Topics discussed include strategic innovation and corporate venture capital, designing approaches to ‘sense’ the environment and developing a strategy to test innovative ideas.

Unit details and rules

Unit code SMBA6106
Academic unit Management Education
Credit points 6
Prohibitions
? 
None
Prerequisites
? 
None
Corequisites
? 
SMBA6001
Assumed knowledge
? 

None

Available to study abroad and exchange students

No

Teaching staff

Coordinator Massimo Garbuio, massimo.garbuio@sydney.edu.au
Type Description Weight Due Length
Presentation group assignment Group assignment
Oral presentation
40% Week 05 15 slides
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO2 LO3
Assignment Individual assignment
Assignment
40% Week 05 2000 words
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO3
Assignment Reflective essay
Essay
20% Week 06 1500 Words
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO3
group assignment = group assignment ?

Assessment summary

  • Group assignment: Present the progress of your venturing based on the new venture creation process: 1) what is the opportunity 2) problem 3) solution 4) channel 5) business model 6) market validation 7) engagement 8) creation 4 rounds of presentations (10% each with peer assessment).
  • Individual assignment: Students are asked to give critical and useful feedback to help other venturing groups to better venture. The students can give back on the evidence-based decision-making in the new venture creation process of all the ventures in the cohort. Students are asked for their thoughts on how others are generating evidence to test specific and testable hypotheses that are the most important to the ventures at the given time.
  • Reflective essay: Students are asked to write two reflective essays on two critical aspects regarding their venturing experience right after the unit.

Detailed information for each assessment can be found on Canvas.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a high distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name

Mark range

Description

High distinction

85 - 100

Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at an exceptional standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school. 

Distinction

75 - 84

Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at a very high standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.

Credit

65 - 74

Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at a good standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.

Pass

50 - 64

Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at an acceptable standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school. 

Fail

0 - 49

When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see sydney.edu.au/students/guide-to-grades.

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

  • Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
  • After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website  provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.  

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

You may only use artificial intelligence and writing assistance tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator, and if you do use them, you must also acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section.

Studiosity is permitted for postgraduate units unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission.

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

WK Topic Learning activity Learning outcomes
Week 01 Introduction; group formation; ideation; design problem interviews Workshop (100 hr)  
Week 02 Design solution interviews; demo and prototyping Workshop (100 hr)  
Week 03 9 Design minimum viable product Workshop (100 hr)  
Week 04 1. Business model testing; 2. Design: sales and marketing (traction) Workshop (100 hr)  
Week 05 Corporate settings Workshop (100 hr)  

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

All readings for this unit can be accessed through the Library eReserve, available on Canvas.

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. Translate future-aligned hypotheses into concrete experiments which would allow for organizational learning about possible futures and identification of strategic opportunities which could be implemented by a company
  • LO2. Apply relevant concepts and frameworks to make sense of the challenges and opportunities facing executives in preparing their companies for the future. Identify what new capabilities would be required
  • LO3. Develop a plan for excelling in in the corporate innovation/venturing space

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1 Depth of disciplinary expertise

Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.

GQ2 Critical thinking and problem solving

Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.

GQ3 Oral and written communication

Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.

GQ4 Information and digital literacy

Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.

GQ5 Inventiveness

Generating novel ideas and solutions.

GQ6 Cultural competence

Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.

GQ7 Interdisciplinary effectiveness

Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.

GQ8 Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity

An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.

GQ9 Influence

Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes Graduate qualities
GQ1 GQ2 GQ3 GQ4 GQ5 GQ6 GQ7 GQ8 GQ9

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

No changes have been made since this unit was last offered
  • Confidential information: You and we will be sourcing ‘real’ ventures for you to develop, managing IP is especially important for this unit of study. For this unit, there are legal agreements designed to cover intellectual property and confidentiality.
  • With regards the intellectual property: 
  • Under the agreement, you will assign any IP rights subsisting in or arising from your work in the Unit or the business plan you come up with to the University.
  • The University will not make any commercial gain from the IP assignment. The rights will be immediately assigned on to the Entrepreneurs by a separate agreement between each Entrepreneur and the University. This is necessary if the University is to attract interesting, innovative projects for the students to work on. The Entrepreneurs are unlikely to participate in the project if they will not gain ownership of the business plan at the end of it.
  • The IP assignment is subject to any ‘use’ you need to make of the IP rights in order to participate in and pass the Unit. For example, you are entitled to provide copies of your assignments to the Lecturer for the purposes of assessment.

More information can be found on Canvas.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.