2025 (Current Year) Faculty Courses School of Life Science and Technology Undergraduate major in Life Science and Technology

Practices of Innovation Creation (LST)

Academic unit or major: Undergraduate major in Life Science and Technology
Instructor(s): Takeshi Hata / Nobuhiro Nakamura / Shunichiro Ogura / Takuji Yamada / Toshinori Fujie / Yasunori Aizawa / Takao Yasui /
Class Format: Lecture/Exercise (Face-to-face)
Media-enhanced courses: -
Day of week/Period (Classrooms): 1-4 Fri (Midorigaoka Bldg.6, Midorigaoka Hall)
Class: -
Course Code: LST.A392
Number of credits: 110
Course offered: 2025
Offered quarter: 4Q
Syllabus updated: Dec 1, 2025
Language: Japanese

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

The environment and values surrounding us are changing rapidly, and thus traditional business model has not met the needs of our current society. In order to realize a happeir society, not only industry but also our human society need innovative human resources who can create pioneering social value from a human-centered perspective. Recently, "design thinking" has been attracting attention as an effective method for human-centered innovation.
The aims of this course are:
1) to cultivate the ability to discover potential user needs and propose solutions against various problems occurring in actual society, by using design thinking;
2) to develop a strategic business sense indispensable for innovators by learning business feasibility verification and pricing strategies;
3) to cultivate an entrepreneur mindset through communication with entrepreneurs in the field of life science and technology.

Course description and aims

・Students will be able to set their own goals and propose solutions.
・Students will acquire the ability to work as a team to develop ideas for solving problems and create prototypes to achieve them.
・Students will be able to experience marketing, such as business feasibility verification and pricing, and incorporate it into problem-solving.

Keywords

Design thinking, Project-based learning (PBL), Empathy, Problem definition, Idea generation, Prototyping, User testing, Storytelling, Innovation, Business feasibility, Marketing, Pitch

Competencies

Specialist skills
Intercultural skills
Communication skills
Critical thinking skills
Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

Students will learn the concepts and methods of design thinking by working indivisually or in a group. After the groups will set up subjects, they will identify problems and create ideas for solutions to the problems by practcing design thinking. They will then prototype products or survices, run user tests, and verify the feasibility of the projects. Finally, each group will give a pitch presentation of the proposed solution. In addition, in multiple modules, lectures will be held by faculty members who have started their own businesses within the School of Life Science and Technology, sharing their experiences and preparations for starting their own businesses.

Course schedule/Objectives

	Course schedule	Objectives
Class 1	Module 1: Design Thinking Experience ① - Team Building, What is Design Thinking? Empathy Interview (Pair), Problem Definition, Idea Generation	Each instructor indicates assignment.
Class 2	Module 2: Design Thinking Experience ② & Design Theme Setting - Prototyping, Idea Presentation - Design Theme Setting, Interview Subject Selection	Each instructor indicates assignment.
Class 3	Module 3: Problem identification - Creating empathy maps, creating personas, creating problem definition statements, selecting problem definition statements for the team, presenting problem definition statements	Each instructor indicates assignment.
Class 4	Module 4: Problem Solving - Idea Brainstorming, Constraint Brainstorming, Combination Brainstorming, Idea Selection, Prototype Creation, User Testing, Prototype Improvement	Each instructor indicates assignment.
Class 5	Module 5: Business Feasibility Verification ① - Business Feasibility Verification: What is Minimum Test Marketing? How to create a business feasibility verification questionnaire, and how to sell before creating it? Prototype announcement	Each instructor indicates assignment.
Class 6	Module 6: Business Feasibility Verification ② & Pitch Preparation - What is a Needs & Price Sensitivity Survey? Price Strategy Formulation Questionnaire Results Analysis, Idea “Response” Analysis, 3-minute Pitch Creation and User Testing	Each instructor indicates assignment.
Class 7	Module 7: 3-minute pitch - 3-minute pitch presentation, feedback from the audience - Summary, overall review	Each instructor indicates assignment.

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)

Materials (textbooks) will be provided by instructors in class.

Reference books, course materials, etc.

Each instructor will recommend as necessary.

Evaluation methods and criteria

The above "Student learning outcomes" will be assessed through Contribution to group work (40%), Presentation (30%), and Report (30%). If any evaluation item fails to meet the standard, the overall evaluation score will be 0 points.

Related courses

LST.A270 ： Fundamentals of Innovation Creation (LST)
ENT.B101(LAS.F101) ： Frontiers of science and technology
ENT.B201 ： Introduction to Entrepreneurship
HCB.C402 ： Fundamentals of Creative Design
LST.A413 ： Career Development Seminars
HCB.C403 ： Field Works for Creative Design
ESD.H401 ： Disciplined Entrepreneurship
ESD.D404 ： Design of Medical and Welfare Device
HCB.C501 ： Practical Creative Design
HCB.C502 ： Management for Business Creation

Prerequisites

Students must have successfully completed Fundamentals of Innovation Creation (LST) (LST.A270) or have equivalent knowledge.
Limited enrollment (Separate preregistration is required in addition to course registration).