Welcome to IPP’s learning resource. Here you can find all materials, resources and media related to IPP’s training programs, such as the Training of Trainers and the Accelerator Bootcamp program. All materials here are open for public use and sharing under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike licence. References back to the original material must be included when using, sharing and further developing the material.

Open-source Curriculum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Introduction to material

Starting from Spring 2015, the IPP has been developing an open-source curriculum on innovation and entrepreneurship that focuses on the key concepts, tools and techniques for growth company generation. This curriculum is flexible and constantly evolving – it can be further developed and applied in many contexts and for different needs. So far, the IPP has tested the curriculum material in three training programs: the 9-week Training of Trainers program , Training of Trainers 2 for universities and a 4-day bootcamp for startups and other teams to kick-start the IPP Innovation Accelerator Program.

The curriculum material initiated in the IPP program is meant for public use and further development by organisations in Vietnam and abroad that want to conduct highly practical training programs.  In 2016, the IPP will be focusing on working with Vietnamese universities and training organisations to scale up and further develop the concepts, tools and teaching methods used in the curriculum. One mechanism for this will be a Training of Trainers program specifically for university and training organisation staff. An open call for parties interested in collaboration will be organised later in 2015.

The full curriculum material has been tested and taught in the Training of Trainers program and this site is structured roughly according to the ToT course. The material was also applied in the IPP Innovation Accelerator Bootcamp  as a 4-day course for startups.

All material presented on this site is open-source under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike licence. Necessary citation back original material must be included whenever using the material. Material is prepared by TriKro LCC if not stated otherwise.

View introductory video from the ToT program:

Structure of learning material

Cross-cutting Themes

Some ideas are bigger than a single workshop and are illustrated and reinforced throughout the curriculum material. These themes include:

• Innovation Management
  Although any startup requires managing innovation practices, this theme deals with Innovation Management at the scale of enterprise companies, accelerator programs, or ecosystems in general.
   
• Design Thinking
  Popularized by companies such as Adaptive Path and Ideo and heavily evangelized by the D-school at Stanford, design thinking focuses on a customer centered approach to product development. It is often called Human Centered Design and is complementary to Lean Startup and User Experience practices.
• Lean Startup & Agile
  The cornerstone of modern innovation management in high risk environments. Lean Startup & Agile principles and practices are used throughout the program, even in regards to the curriculum design itself.
• Ideation
  Practices related to the skill of creating large numbers of potential options prior to eliminating or refining any of them. Heavily related to Design Thinking but applied to any number of domains including Business Model Generation or even Finance & Fundraising.
• Ecosystem Thinking
  Drawing from systems thinking, Ecosystem Thinking refers to adapting individual practices to a larger environments. Mainly by identifying obstacles to innovation and altering the dynamics of the ecosystem to reduce those obstacles. It may also include activities to lower the cost of innovation.
• Business Model Generation
   Business planning in high risk environments are not conducive to long term business planning. Business Model Generation is a methodology which looks at 9 basic building blocks of any business model to facilitate innovation.
• Finance & Fundraising
   Any sessions which relate to finance operations of a company including fundraising activities.
• Marketing & Sales
  Any sessions which relate to acquiring customers at early stage company development or later growth stages.
• Technology, Operations, & Resource Management
  Any sessions relating to technology management or establishing operational excellence.
• Metrics & Analytics
   Specifically relating to business performance analysis including understanding experiment results or setting KPIs.
• Leadership, Team Building & Personal Development
   Soft skills focused on the ability of learners to communicate effectively, build community, and coach others.

Sections & Units

The curriculum is divided up into 3 Sections and 10 units.

Section 1, Practical Tools for Disruptive Innovation, with Units 1-6 provides a comprehensive overview on how to create a business from an idea, including how to research a market and build a product.

1. Introduction to Innovation Management 
2. Ideation & Generative Market Research 
3. Evaluative Market Experiments
4. Generative Product Research 
5. Evaluative Product Experiments
6. B2B & Complex Sales 

Section 2, Innovation Life Cycle in Growth Companies, with Units 7-8 covers the operational skills needed to make a startup or new venture successful beyond its initial growth phase.

7. Scaling Growth & Companies
8. Funding & Legal

The last section, Supporting Ecosystems, and Units 9-10, will take a step back and offer in-depth discussions on how to apply and facilitate innovation in larger organizational contexts.

9. Lean Enterprise
10. Innovation Ecosystems

Sessions

There are more than 50 sessions in the material. These are workshop format with hands-on activities whenever practical to facilitate ingrained learning. Each session includes a learner’s guide that contains:

• Overview
  • A brief description including key question(s) to be answered.
• Skills & Tools
  • A short list of skills or tools learned or emphasized during the session.
• References
  • Any applicable materials that will be used during the session or required as pre- or post-work.
• Objectives & Key Results
  • A brief summary of the key learning objective or activity.