Becoming an Innovator

At heart, an innovator is an agent for change, with the capacity to introduce new methods, ideas or products so that a business sustains its competitive edge in the market.  Without the ability to be innovative, businesses run the risk of their original ideas becoming tired or stale and therefore losing out to rival firms that are able to innovate more effectively.  Innovation goes hand in hand with entrepreneurship and is really an extension of the ability to conceive and implement fresh business ideas.

Benefits

Throughout history, certain individuals have been recognized as innovators – they have introduced a concept or invented a new item that has made them pioneers.  Examples include Isaac Newton, the trailblazer for classical mechanics; the Wright brothers, who developed controlled flight; Henry Ford, who introduced the concept of mass produced automobiles; and Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web.

It can be seen, then, that innovators are very special people who leave an enormously important legacy, and the same can be said of innovators at company level – they make a very real contribution to the success of the business, and its value to customers, by developing solutions for unmet needs.  These might include new needs that arise because of change, needs that innovators identify even though they have not been expressed, or new and better ways to address existing market and customer needs.

Learning about innovation

As innovation and entrepreneurship apply to every type of business, governments across the world in developed and developing countries have been keen to see the skills and knowledge they require integrated into education systems.  As might be expected, many courses in entrepreneurship in California are linked to cutting edge technologies, including those that are enshrined within digital media.  The Cogswell Polytechnical College in Sunnyvale offers both an undergraduate and a graduate degree in entrepreneurship and innovation; both programs are of the highest standard and include real-world encounters with successful entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley.

Cogswell’s Bachelor of Arts in Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Digital Media program contains three specialist areas of study from which students can make their preferred choice.  These are Audio Artists Management, for musically inclined students; Game Entrepreneurship, for students interested in creating a game studio or designing games; and Interactive Marketing, for creative students who wish to develop skills in using social media and marketing via the internet, in order to become more effective at connecting organizations to their constituencies and customers.

Cogswell’s Master of Arts program allows students to select one of five specialist areas of study.  These include Animation, Audio, Games, Interactive Marketing and Technology.  Besides coursework, and the opportunity to gain experiential knowledge from creative entrepreneurs and their companies, the course culminates in an intensive practical study session that requires the development of a plan for the creation of a new business venture, or the growth of an existing one, utilizing all the knowledge and skills acquired during the program.  Thus students learn how to take their business acumen, and their innovative ideas, to a new level.