Key information

Duration: 4 days (on-campus)
Programme dates:

2 -
9 -
Fees: £4,950

This programme is currently FULL for our November dates. Please do take a look at our other available start dates for the programme.

Programme Overview

Imperial Innovation: A Design Thinking Approach programme is a four-day course that guides participants towards becoming champions of innovation within their organisations. The programme delivers hands-on learning experiences that will give participants the mindset and practical tools to develop business ideas into commercial propositions.

Business ideas, design thinking & innovation

Participants will emerge with a solid understanding of how to be entrepreneurial within their organisations and inspire innovation from others. This management course will help maintain and grow innovative thinking within business; it will help attendees deal with the complexities of change in uncertain times; it will improve methods for creative thinking which will benefit product & service delivery design; and as well as help the attendees succeed in their own role it will help move business forward thanks to an understanding of corporate innovation and a new found thinking for the design of strategy in business.

Who should attend?

These innovation courses are London-based or online and suitable for mid to senior-level managers who want to increase their innovation capabilities and inspire intrapreneurship from their teams. Your programme peers will come from a broad range of sectors and diverse nationalities to develop innovations in products, services and processes. No technical background is required. 

Learning Objectives

  • Immerse participants in an innovation experience through an experiential journey which includes intensive workshops

  • Provide participants with applicable design thinking and innovation tools

  • Allow participants to network across organisational silos

  • Learn to identify new business opportunities, craft a story around the opportunity, build the right business model around the innovation, navigate the organisational context and negotiate for internal resources

Learning Journey

Introduction and Overview & Disruption, Innovation and Uncertainty
Anu Wadhwa and David Brown

Anu will give an introduction to what innovation is and why it matters. She will discuss the nature of uncertainty facing firms and the rapid pace of change which together have significant implications for firms’ innovation strategy and competitive advantage. You will learn about different types of innovation, the challenges they present for incumbent firms, and how firms can overcome these challenges.

An Introduction to Design Thinking
Ileana Stigliani

Design Thinking is a human-centred approach for solving complex problems and identifying opportunities to innovate. You will learn how to apply it to solve your challenges and see how this approach can help you innovate even in difficult environments. In this core part of the programme you will look at four key phases that will help you frame and understand how design thinking can drive innovation in your organisation.

• Discover: Taking a deep dive into the user’s world 
• Define: Interpreting data and synthesising insights 
• Develop: Generating ideas through critical and lateral thinking 
• Deliver: Surfacing assumptions and testing solutions 

Design Thinking Discover Phase
Ileana Stigliani

Field Work
Ileana Stigliani

Wrap up and welcome drinks

Design Thinking Define Phase
Ileana Stigliani


Design Thinking Design Phase

Design Thinking Deliver Phase and final presentations
Ileana Stigliani

Responses to Uncertainty
Anu Wadhwa

Thinking disruptively about Corporate Innovation
Bart Clarysse

Thinking disruptively about Corporate Innovation
Bart Clarysse

In this session, you will discuss why innovation matters particularly when it disrupts industries. Bart will engage you in thinking about different types of innovation – technology-driven, business model-driven, and user-driven – and the challenges each type presents for firms.

Leading and Working with People for Innovation

Sankalp Chatuverdi

30 minute Programme Close

Anu Wadhwa

Programme Faculty and Experts

Anu Wadhwa 11

Anu Wadhwa

Anu Wadhwa is an Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship and the Programme Director of the Imperial Innovation: A Design Thinking Approach programme at Imperial College Business School. Anu’s research helps established organisations examine patterns and processes of entrepreneurship, the impact of corporate entrepreneurship on organisational innovation, how entrepreneurial actors make decisions under extreme uncertainty and how pre-entry experience and knowledge impact post-entry innovation choices and outcomes.

Ileana Stigliani

Ileana Stigliani

Ileana Stigliani is Associate Professor of Design and Innovation at Imperial College Business School. She received her PhD in Management from Bocconi University, Milan. Her research focuses on the cognitive aspects of innovation. In particular, she studies how material artefacts and practices influence cognitive processes – such as sensemaking and sensegiving, categorisation, and perceptions of organisational and professional identities – within organisations.

Professor Bart Clarysse

Bart Clarysse

Bart Clarysse is visiting professor at Imperial College Business School. Following his PhD studies, Bart was an advisor in technology policy at the European Commission and he still consults on innovation and technology matters for various European governments and agencies. He is founding partner of Inceptum, a company that offers support to build a business plan out of an initial idea; and he sits on the board of Siruna, a mobile internet start-up. He also is an advisor in innovation policy to the Flemish Government, the Belgian Government and European Commission. 

Sankalp Chaturvedi

Sankalp Chaturvedi

Dr Sankalp Chaturvedi is an Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Leadership at Imperial College Business School. The central focus of Sankalp’s research is in the areas of organisational citizenship behaviour, leadership, and interpersonal trust. In addition, Sankalp is interested in examining the “nature vs. nurture” debates with regard to behaviours in organisations. He is active in executive education where he has been involved in program design and delivery for a wide range of clients including Royal Society, Saif, EDF, and others.

Key information

Duration: 4 days (on-campus)
Programme dates:

2 -
9 -
Fees: £4,950

Contact us

Get in touch

Asmik Magakian

Asmik Magakian

Business Development Executive