The graduate/professional certificate in strategic innovation seeks to provide knowledge and skills to students around the development of innovative products, services, and processes within an existing organization. The certificate is available to all UW–Madison graduate-degree-seeking students (excluding University Special students).
A student who has completed this certificate will have good foundational skills in areas ranging from market assessment, research and development, and product design to intellectual property strategy and portfolio management.
Interested students should see the Certificate in Strategic Innovation website for specific information regarding declaring, withdrawing, or upon completion of the certificate. The Management and Human Resources Department will have the certificate noted on students' official university transcripts by the Office of the Registrar.
Admissions
The certificate is open to graduate students that are in good academic standing. A graduate student is in good academic standing if they maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher for all graduate courses (excluding research).
The certificate program offers foundational skills and knowledge appropriate for graduate students who anticipate working in dynamic organizations that depend on innovation to compete in the marketplace and/or use innovation to create value for society more broadly.
A student who has completed the certificate will be prepared to execute in-depth new product development plans for an existing organization or identify and evaluate innovation challenges in society.
Before beginning any coursework, students are recommended to consult with their faculty advisor (or, where appropriate, graduate program coordinator).
Note: While the application for declaring your certificate should be completed prior to enrolling in courses for the certificate, it must be completed prior to graduation. Your application automatically serves as a declaration of your intent to pursue the certificate. This declaration becomes part of your academic record.
All Graduate School students must utilize the Graduate Student Portal in MyUW to add, change, or discontinue any certificate. To apply to this certificate please log in to MyUW, click on Graduate Student Portal, and then click on Add/Change Programs. Professional students in the careers of Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, and Veterinary cannot add the certificate in the Graduate Student Portal, and should contact the program for more information.
The certificate coordinator will review your application for admittance, and reach out to you if there are any further questions.
See the program website linked within the contact information for details.
Requirements
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation | ||
| Students must complete the following course. | ||
| M H R 715 | Strategic Management of Innovation | 3 |
| Advanced Innovation Business | 3-9 | |
| Students must complete at least 3 credits from the following courses. | ||
| Entrepreneurial Management | ||
| Weinert Applied Ventures in Entrepreneurship (WAVE) | ||
| Technology Entrepreneurship | ||
| New Product Innovation | ||
| Sustainability, Environmental and Social Risk Management | ||
| Electives | 0-6 | |
| To reach the minimum credit requirement, students must select from the following courses. | ||
| School of Business | ||
| Accounting Principles | ||
or ACCT I S 700 | Financial Accounting | |
| Managing Behavior in Organizations | ||
| Human Resource Management | ||
| Business Strategy | ||
| Emerging Entrepreneurship Theory and Research | ||
| Marketing Management | ||
or MARKETNG 700 | Marketing Management | |
| Managing Technological and Organizational Change | ||
| Law School | ||
| Patent Law | ||
| Copyright Law | ||
| Introduction to Intellectual Property Law | ||
| Clinical Program (Law Entrepreneurship) | ||
| College of Letters Sciences | ||
| Human-Computer Interaction | ||
| Research and Assessment for Information Professionals | ||
| Systems Analysis and Project Management for Information Professionals | ||
| Strategic Information Services | ||
| Science, Technology and Medicine in Society | ||
| College of Agricultural Life Sciences | ||
| Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Technology | ||
| Applied Risk Analysis | ||
| Special Topics (Applied Business Economics) | ||
| Brand Strategy for the Sciences | ||
| Risk Communication | ||
| Public Opinion of Life Science Issues | ||
| College of Engineering | ||
| Design and Human Disability and Aging | ||
| Engineering Design Projects | ||
| Product Design | ||
| Total Credits | 12 | |
Electives
Students may select approved, elective courses from a variety of schools and colleges across the university that deepen students’ capacity to:
- analyze new markets,
- manage research and product development processes in existing organizations,
- support organizational creativity,
- articulate innovative business models,
- identify and appropriate the value of intellectual property, and
- assess society-level innovation systems.
Learning Outcomes
- Students will be able to recognize, evaluate, select and implement business opportunities emerging from technological solutions.
- Students will be able to manage technological and innovative processes based on the understanding of industry and market trends.
- Students will be able to make business decisions in an emerging technology industry context.
- Students will be able to evaluate competitive advantage (or lack there of) stemming from technology.
- Students will be able to develop understanding of strategies that firms use to appropriate value from technology.