2024 Faculty Courses School of Environment and Society Undergraduate major in Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering
Design Thinking in the Entrepreneurial World
- Academic unit or major
- Undergraduate major in Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering
- Instructor(s)
- Miki Saijo / Takumi Ohashi
- Class Format
- Lecture (Face-to-face)
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 3-4 Tue
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- TSE.A318
- Number of credits
- 100
- Course offered
- 2024
- Offered quarter
- 3Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 14, 2025
- Language
- Japanese
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
In this course, several entrepreneurs who are experts in product and service design are invited as guest speakers and will talk about products and service prototypes which have succeeded in the market. After that, students in groups are required to construct hypotheses about how the entrepreneurs developed these prototypes and how they led the products to their current success, and make a presentation to the entrepreneur involved. The entrepreneurs will comment on the differences between students' ideas for improvement and products which in reality have succeeded in the market.
Course description and aims
Product design and service design are the two major trends in engineering design, and both are necessary to realize an innovation in real life. The purpose of this course is to nurture the ability of students to do the following:
1. Understand and explaining the concept of product design and service design by applying it to real businesses
2. Build hypotheses of paths to win markets from prototypes
3. Explain what causes the gap between student hypotheses and reality by referring to entrepreneurial stories
Keywords
Product design, Service design, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Prototype, Hypothesis construction
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
After you learn about the concept of product design and service design in a guidance session, we invite a number of entrepreneurs who have succeeded in emerging markets with new ideas in their respective fields, to talk about prototyping of their ideas. In class, you will listen to the entrepreneur's prototyping experience and then (divided into groups) work on building hypotheses about how the entrepreneur made the business model from the prototype that succeeded in the market. You will then make presentations and receive comments from the entrepreneur. Also, you will listen to an explanation of how the entrepreneur actually worked by themselves and will reconsider the difference between your hypotheses and the entrepreneurs' reality.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Guidance: what is engineering design. Product design and Service design. The concept of prototype | Understanding the concept of engineering design and able to explain what you understand |
| Class 2 | Case study ① Entrepreneur's presentation on prototype and group work | Understanding and talking about the guest speaker's business model |
| Class 3 | Case study ① Feedback: the gap between hypotheses and the reality | Building hypotheses about how the guest speaker suceeded in the market and talk about them |
| Class 4 | Case study ② Entrepreneur's presentation on prototype and group work | Understanding and talking about the guest speaker's business model |
| Class 5 | Case study ② Feedback: the gap between hypotheses and the reality | Building hypotheses about how the guest speaker succeeded in the market and talk about them |
| Class 6 | Case study ③ Entrepreneur's presentation on prototype and group work | Understanding and talking about the guest speaker's business model |
| Class 7 | Case study Feedback: the gap between hypotheses and the reality/ Making own business plan | Building hypotheses about how the guest speaker succeeded in the market and talk about them /Making own business plan and prepare for final report |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
Non required
Reference books, course materials, etc.
Instruction manuals and course materials are provided during class.
Evaluation methods and criteria
Workshop presentation and contribution to the class discussion : 50%
Final report : 50%
Related courses
- TSE.C303 ： Project Management
- TSE.C202 ： System Design Project
- ESD.C404 ： Communication Design: Theory & Practice
Prerequisites
Non required.