About This Course
The world is changing, you can either allow change to happen to you or you can be a key part of the change. The Applied Innovation Design course will prepare you to take a leading/active role in enabling a change in whatever field you choose, through the experiential application of current theory and commercial practices.
There are many definitions of the word ‘innovation’ and whether you chose to define it as a leap or a hop, innovation is a novel way of realising value. This could be through a new product or service, organisational change, new processes, facilitating creative practice or establishing and leading on strategic direction. The world needs people who are able to approach an ever changing landscape of social, business and sustainability needs, armed with design thinking processes and collaborative approaches, to create real value.
Design thinking skills are eminently transferrable and can be used to help understand and approach a diverse variety of human centred challenges, and have the potential to create significant change. This course will introduce you to the skills and knowledge needed to steer, row and rock the boat in relation to applied innovation activities.
Research Opportunities
The academics involved with this programme have extensive links with design and manufacture companies locally and globally, which are utilised to ensure that modules are relevant for the modern roles in innovation design, and used as a basis for professional development through work placements, and to promote an innovative and commercially focused mindset.
Student Experiences
[0:03] So on this course we can actually work with companies, industries...That È«Ãñ²ÊƱ is offering a course which actually allowed me to work with an actual industrial problem
[0:12] I did my Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering at an University in India so I'm currently doing my second MSc in in Applied Innovation Design.
[0:20] I would say I've developed myself a lot after coming to this course. I've developed my CAD skills, the design software skills, my finite analysis and also the thinking
process.
[0:33] This course actually taught me how to think how to approach a problem
and the lecturers! Other universities if you want to go and meet lecturers or
professors you have to send them an email you have to ask for permission.
[0:46] Here you just have to you just have to come in and then you can meet them whenever you want and then like they'll talk to you like more than one hour explaining very clearly what you need to do what you should not do I've never found it in any any of the previous
degree I've done yeah it's completely different.
[1:04] In the last 6 months I took two projects in two different industries - the first project is with a company called International Safety Components. They are based in Bangor so they are a safety equipment manufacturing company.
[1:16] The project that that I'm currently doing is with a company called Key
Optic. Key Optic is is a military based company but now they want to expand into commercial market so the the first product they want to launch is a thermal image camera so I am currently designing a concept design for the for them and we actually want to design a
product for firefighters.
[1:36] So now we are designing a thermal image camera for firefighters. So how this goes actually helped me in in securing a job... As I said earlier, at the group stage we have to work with other people we, have to work with strangers, to come up with a solution for the problem like in this course, in this Applied Innovation Design course, we actually have some of the tasks like that, so that's that really helped me in the group stage and in the interview stage.
[2:06] And the presentation stage they almost focused on the strategy of the
company so I've done the strategy course - it actually helped me to prepare for that presentation and the interview. [Music]
[0:04] After I finished my levels I went to È«Ãñ²ÊƱ to study Product Design,
during those three years we worked on various projects, live projects with real companies.
[0:12] Before graduating then I got the offer to come and work here at 5th wheel from one of my lecturers, went for an interview and got the job luckily and then after further discussions then the company offered to sponsor the Master's course which obviously was a great bonus [Music]
[0:29] So, 5th wheel is a family based company in Rhuallt North Wales. We manufacture electric caravans, touring caravans. Caravans are exported all across Europe, New Zealand, Australia.
[0:40] It's grown massively over the years. The Master's course allowed me to bring the skills I already had but take the next step and bringing kind of maybe a more managerial side as well. You know, design thinking is it kind of changes your perspective of how you look at things where maybe before I would just do a task in one
[0:55] way but now I see kind of variations of different ways to do it. I work here you know Monday to Thursday and then on the Friday I'm in University learning and then expanding all my skills. There's obviously that jump from University life to working life. The company here, 5th wheel, made me feel comfortable instantly. I'm a Welsh first speaker - being able to speak through medium of Welsh was always a bonus and comfortable thing for me supported by all the lecturers.
[1:18] They've got so much vast expertise in so many different industries, you know and bringing those together, yeah, it's like the dream thing really. You're always looking for talented people to join the business that's the big thing trying to find local talent especially so when you bring someone in that's that's that's got that talent you want to try and keep encouraging them and helping them
[1:38] develop even more. The culmination of Ciron's work came into looking at GRP mouldings and working with GRP, bringing manufacturing in-house. In all fairness he actually has been paramount to the success of that as a project, especially with the design thinking side of things, you know, he's
[1:51] done a course on innovation and I'm starting to see that innovative thinking in how he approaches tasks, how he reports to us and how he he talks about the things that he's found and he's been really instrumental in developing a design process that we've used now across all the models. When you look at what he can do and what he can bring to the business it's a two-way thing -we've got
[2:12] to help him and he's got to work with us and bring that talent and show what he can do to us as well. I say the highlight of the course for me was the kind of the last module which was the dissertation or the artefact and reports. In that kind of module I got the opportunity to
[2:27] kind of work on something I wanted to work on but as well this, it kind of fitted with the company I was working for. Thank you to 5th wheel, I could work and concentrate on what I want to do and also develop the company's needs. In that module I learned so much new skills you know thanks again to the lecturers, you know that transition from theory to practical was
[2:45] really nice. I think the main advice is to kind of look around first, kind of do your research, don't stick to one place or one idea first you know we've got plenty of time, don't rush and there's so many opportunities locally or maybe further away in the UK [Music].
Course Content
What will you study on this course?
The course is designed to challenge students to engage with design at all levels, from understanding its wider role and value in organisations, to applying this understanding alongside creativity and innovation tools in the roles of leader, facilitator and practitioner.
The course consists of two semesters of study, which includes design based projects; academic study; and the option to undertake a research focused industrial placement, leading to a final, stand-alone research project. The final research project can follow three paths, with a focus on commercial delivery, entrepreneurship or commercial consultancy, based on an individual’s career aspirations and area of interest.
Content modules are split between essential core modules, which provide an in-depth understanding of tools and techniques used to apply innova