Pitch Presentation: In this assignment, you will work as a team of innovation consultants for a real-world startup to propose an entrepreneurial strategy, including two distinct ways to innovate the startup in the short term (the next two years) and the medium term (two to ten years out). To do this, you will apply the concepts and frameworks discussed in the unit, and conduct in-depth research and analysis of your startup, to develop recommendations that are desirable, feasible and viable. Your team is required to pitch this strategy to the startup founder and potential investor. The objective is to convince them of how and why your team's entrepreneurial ideas are the most likely to help the startup scale successfully.

This assessment comprises two parts. In Part 1, which carries a weightage of 10%, teams will present a 5-minute interim pitch to their client (followed by 5-min Q&A) during the Week 8 tutorial, focusing on the front-end of the entrepreneurial process i.e., ‘problem-customer fit’ and ‘problem-solution fit’. Teams will get formative feedback after this interim pitch from the client, tutor, and peers to help develop their final pitch.

In the final pitch, which forms Part 2 of this assessment and is worth 20%, teams will present their fully developed entrepreneurial strategy, addressing all phases of the entrepreneurial process i.e., ‘problem-customer fit’, ‘problem-solution fit’ and ‘problem-market fit’. The 10-minute oral pitch presented during the Week 12 tutorial, will be followed by a 5-minute Q&A session. The live oral pitch will be supported by an annotated pitch deck containing extensive comments (in the notes section) to support the key points in the slides, and is to be submitted through Canvas by 18 May 11:59pm.

The remaining 5% of marks is dedicated to the individual component, which includes each student’s contribution to the team’s outcome and the quality of feedback they provide to their teammates. Peer evaluation will be considered when assessing this individual component.

Participation and Professionalism: Lectures and tutorials in the unit are designed to be collaborative and participatory. The grade for participation and professionalism includes class attendance, punctuality, in-class contributions, and feedback to peers. In addition to basic attendance at both lectures and tutorials, students are expected to come to class prepared having reviewed the weekly online modules and completed the online primer discussions. They are required to contribute actively to class discussion, team activities and their group project work, and also provide constructive feedback to their peers on their individual project and reflection videos through the online discussion boards.

Project Portfolio: This assessment asks you to act as an innovation consultant to an existing real-world business of your choice (or as a founder of your own startup, if relevant). Applying the concepts and frameworks introduced in the unit, you will develop two innovative business models for your chosen organisation centred on: (1) open innovation (e.g., crowdsourcing, digital platforms, and ecosystems), (2) social innovation (e.g., circular economy, sustainable business models, social enterprises) or (3) a combination thereof. You will present concrete ways to implement the recommended business models, supported by a strategic analysis to arrive at these recommendations.

This assignment comprises two parts. Part 1 carries a weightage of 20%, and is to be submitted in the form of a 5-minute video via Canvas by 31 March 11:59pm. This task will include in-depth insights and supporting evidence from the first phase of the entrepreneurial process i.e., ‘problem-customer fit’ only. Additionally, students will reply to at least two peer videos with constructive feedback. This is an essential component of the ‘Participation and Professionalism’ assessment of this unit.

Part 2 of the individual portfolio carries a weightage of 20%, and will take the form of a slide deck based on infographic content to be submitted via Canvas by 26 May 11:59pm. This infographic slide deck will present the two recommendations of innovative business models backed by insights from all phases of the entrepreneurial process i.e., ‘problem-customer fit’, ‘problem-solution fit’ and ‘problem-market fit’.

Reflection: This assessment is a reflective review of your journey as an innovation consultant/entrepreneur in your projects, and is worth 15%. You are required to critically reflect on your personal experience in the projects and benchmark these insights against your learnings from the: (1) concepts and theories introduced in the lectures and primer discussions, and (2) interactions with your group project client and other real-world innovators and entrepreneurs during the unit of study. There is an intersubjective element in the format in that each student video interviews one other student in your group project team and, in turn, is interviewed by this student. The video interview to be presented via Canvas by 7 June 11:59pm should contain in-depth reflective insights and a critical assessment of how the learnings can be implemented in your own (current of future) professional context. Additionally, each student replies to at least two other peer videos with a meaningful response to their reflection. This is an essential component of the ‘Participation and Professionalism’ assessment of this unit.

Additional details and resources for all assignments will be made available in Canvas and discussed in class.