Project management and innovation*

The course proposes a critical reflection on how the strategic use of Big Data shapes and informs the practice of management, managerial expertise, and the way of managing businesses. The course aims to provide students with conceptual grounds and frameworks for thinking analytically about how innovation and data-driven insights can shape organizations and impact sectors and institutions.

Course learning objectives are the following:
· Explain the challenges of using Big Data for businesses decision-making.
· Identify types and forms of innovation and understand how innovation, fueled by Big Data, shape businesses' practices and work organization.
· Discuss how companies advance innovation by using project-based structure and identify different forms of project organizing (such as single-project organizations, project networks, and project ecologies).
· Discuss how projects, such as R&D projects or new product development projects, are used to accomplish innovation, solve complex problems, and explore entrepreneurial opportunities.
· Assess the opportunities and challenges afforded by Big Data and data-driven culture within business and across sectors and society.

Having successfully completed this course, students will be able to:
· Explain the key challenges of relying on Big Data for businesses decision-making
· Discuss the effects of technological change and digital technologies to businesses
· Discuss the different views and forms of innovation
· Assess the relevance of user-based, collaborative and platform innovation
· Explain the ways in which companies use projects to achieve innovation
· Discuss the different types of project organization and how each affords opportunities for creating systematic and formal approaches to harness innovation
· Evaluate prospects and challenges offered by Big Data and examine the implications for businesses, sectors and society