The Innovation specialization is offered by Coursera in partnership with the University of Illinois Gies College of Business and is also part of the Master of Business Administration degree. This beginner-level course takes roughly seven months to complete at a suggested four hours per week commitment. The course is taught in English, but Arabic subtitles are available.
The Innovation: From Creativity to Entrepreneurship specialization is composed of seven courses:
- Strategic Innovation: Building and Sustaining Innovative Organizations
- Strategic Innovation: Managing Innovation Initiatives
- Creativity Toolkit I: Changing Perspectives
- Creativity Toolkit II: Creative Collaboration
- Entrepreneurship I: Laying the Foundation
- Entrepreneurship II: Preparing for Launch
- Innovation: From Creativity to Entrepreneurship Capstone
This specialization will enhance your entrepreneurial mindset in the current world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. The courses in this specialization will help you analyze and question constraints and assumptions to identify and capitalize on business opportunities. Flexible thinking is an essential skill for innovation, especially in uncertain business environments. Throughout this course, you will strengthen your ability to develop innovative business prepositions and discover new market areas to sustain your organization’s competitive advantage.
This specialization culminates in a capstone project, in which you will analyze a scenario about a new enterprise to create the business model and compare it against other business models to isolate possible opportunities and roadblocks. The course is 100% online, so you can start as soon as you enroll and learn at your own pace.
You can enroll in any of these specializations for free with a 7-day free trial. After the free trial ends, it costs $49 per month to have access to the courses. You can also enroll in single courses; however, if you subscribe to a course that is part of a specialization, you will be automatically subscribed to the entire specialization.
You can audit courses for free, but this only gives you access to read and view course content and does not come with a certificate of completion. Coursera provides financial aid to students who cannot afford the monthly fee. Users can apply for financial aid by clicking on the link underneath the “Enroll” button. You will need to fill out an application and will be notified if approved. You will have to complete this process for every course in the specialization.
