Foresight-Driven Innovation: Smart Factory

The course "Foresight-Driven Innovation: Smart Factory" is implemented in cooperation with the specialist company Rohrbeck Heger. Emerging in 2014 from years of scientific and practical work, Rohrbeck Heger helps companies prepare for the future, identify and seize new opportunities early, and identify and mitigate future risks and threats. The activities of the Rohrbeck Heger team can be structured along three pillars: consulting and implementation of foresight in companies, scientific research as well as teaching, both in regular master programs and executive education programs.

The Smart Factory is the result of deep integration of hardware and software products, enabling the utilization of data from development, suppliers, manufacturing, and customers on all levels from shop floor to management systems. As a result, highly efficient, autonomous, and eventually intelligent production facilities can be realized, including a complete digital representation of the production value chain.

In today's fast paced environment, it becomes harder and harder to foresee future developments and the potential for long term success of new products and services. Traditional planning and innovation methods are reaching their limits with increasing uncertainty. Additionally, user's needs and demands are increasingly driving product and service design, as the rise of methods like Design Thinking, Lean Startup and Agile Development show.

The certificate course "Foresight-Driven Innovation: Smart Factory" of iabw and Rohrbeck Heger is designed to provide professionals a deep dive into the methods and tools that can be used to identify relevant trends and drivers of change, to develop alternative future scenarios and to identify business opportunities tackling future customer needs.

The focus of the course "Foresight-Driven Innovation" is on applying selected methods and formats from the foresight spectrum such as environmental scanning, trend analysis, and scenario development for innovation management and new business development.

The course will be implemented in 5 separate live afternoon sessions of approximately 4 hours each. Three elements alternate in the sessions: method input, topical impulse presentations, and group exercises moderated by the lecturers. The combination of these elements ensures that, in addition to the pure teaching of new methods, their application is practiced.

The 5 sessions will cover:

• Session 1: Trend scanning and analysis | 09.03.2022
• Session 2: Identification of drivers of change | 16.03.2022
• Session 3: Fast scenario development | 23.03.2022
• Session 4: User-centric evaluation of the scenarios | 30.03.2022
• Session 5: Identification of future use cases and business ideas | 06.04.2022

• Method knowledge especially in foresight and scenario development but also in creativity methods and ideation techniques
• Deep dive into the focal topic
• Topic related trend cards and future business opportunities
• Networking with other professionals in an interactive and interdisciplinary setting

The course will be implemented in 5 separate live afternoon sessions of approximately 4 hours each.

Managers at middle- or senior-management level that are focusing on helping their organizations stay competitive in the future especially from:

• Business development
• Innovation and risk management
• Research and development
• Strategic planning
• Innovation and product development

No particular prior knowledge is required for participating in the course Foresight-Driven Innovation.

• Selbstzahler

• bbw Hochschule