Innovation: From Creativity to Entrepreneurship

"Create unique value for the society"

Representative Faculty

Professor Cong Cao

PhD, Columbia University, USA / Professor of Innovation Studies

Educated in both China and the U.S. and in both the natural and social sciences, Professor Cao has worked at the University of Oregon, the National University of Singapore, the State University of New York, and the University of Nottingham before joining the University of Nottingham Ningbo China in 2015. As one of the prolific scholars in the social studies of science, technology, and innovation in China, Professor Cao has published extensively in scientific elite; human resources in science and technology; innovation and entrepreneurship in nanotechnology and biotechnology; and the reform of science and technology system. 

He is the author of China’s Scientific Elite (RoutledgeCurzon, 2004 and 2012) and GMO China: How Global Debates Transformed China’s Agricultural Biotechnology Policies (Columbia University Press, 2018). He also is a co-author of China’s Emerging Technological Edge: Assessing the Role of High-End Talent (with Denis Fred Simon, Cambridge University Press, 2009) and Innovation in China: Challenging the Global Science and Technology System (with Richard Appelbaum, Xueying Han, Rachel Parker, and Denis Fred Simon, Polity, 2018). His papers have appeared in international leading journals of science, technology, and innovation and edited volumes. Professor Cao’s research has been supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), European Union, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), among others.

    

The course will introduce trainees to the latest thinking in the areas of creativity, the creative process, knowledge management practices and the nature of entrepreneurship. The course uses directed reading, case study exercises, reflective blog writing and group-based creative problem solving to illustrate entrepreneurial creativity inpractice. Trainees will be introduced to a varietyof creative problem-solving techniques and learn how to apply these techniques in the context of the development, evaluation, and application of ideas and concepts with commercial potential.

Who should attend

• Leaders and managers
• Existing or potential social/sustainability entrepreneurs
• Board trustees
• Funders looking for investing opportunities
• Other development practitioners

• Markets - the development and operation of markets for resources, goods, and services
• Customers - customer expectations, service, and orientation
• Finance - the sources, uses, and management of finance
• People - the management and development of people within organisations
• Operations - the management of resources and operations, information systems, the development, management, and exploitation of information systems, and their impact upon organisations
• Business Policy and Strategy - the development of appropriate policies and strategies within a changing environment, to meet stakeholder interests
• Pervasive Issues - these would include sustainability, globalisation, corporate social responsibility, diversity, business innovation, creativity, enterprise development, knowledge management, and risk management
• Develops a knowledge of sustainability issues, and in particular an understanding of the challenges and opportunities arising from the activities of people and organizations today on the economic, social, and environmental conditions of present and future societies.
• Theories, models, and frameworks of entrepreneurship and creativity

• Entrepreneurial creativity
• Why entrepreneurship matters?
• The individual and entrepreneurship
• What is creativity and why does it matter?
• Entrepreneurial opportunity recognition: Lean Startup
• Evaluating ideas and opportunities
• Profiting from Innovation & Complimentary assets
• The importance of performance measurement
• Strategic Technology Roadmapping
• Business Model and Business planning: Burn Rate
• Culture of creativity

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