• University of Bristol

Unleash Your Potential: Innovation and Enterprise

Get an introduction to innovation and enterprise, and learn to generate and evaluate your own ideas.

20,348 enrolled on this course

Picture of an Innovation Cycle

Unleash Your Potential: Innovation and Enterprise

20,348 enrolled on this course

  • 4 weeks

  • 3 hours per week

  • Digital certificate when eligible

  • Open level

Find out more about how to join this course

Discover how to shape your world with innovation

In the ever-changing and highly competitive world we live in, the ability to think creatively has never been more important.

Get an introduction to innovation and enterprise, and gain the confidence to generate ideas so that you can make a difference, with this online course from the University of Bristol.

You’ll learn ways to develop ideas, gain creative confidence, and turn ideas into action.

You’ll improve your problem solving capabilities, and discover problem structuring tools to tackle complex issues.

Finally, you’ll learn how to develop networks, articulate ideas, and pitch successfully.

Skip to 0 minutes and 12 seconds When you think of the words ‘innovation’ and ‘enterprise’, you may conjure up mental images of the tech industry’s latest game changing invention, or a global entrepreneur literally pushing the boundaries of human exploration. However, these words aren’t restricted to Silicon Valley. They’re intertwined in all our work and our personal lives on a day to day basis. What these words have in common is they’re about having and acting on an idea. We all have ideas, so why are some good and why do some have more impact than others?

Skip to 0 minutes and 41 seconds The course is also about how you can both solve problems and engineer your own luck, so that you not only have more and better ideas but that these ideas have more chance of being successful. We’ll also explore how creative ideas emerge, develop and gain impact. Over the course of four weeks, we’ll provide an overview of historical innovations and an insight into the people who unleashed those ideas. A toolkit, of problem solving approaches and techniques, an insight into accidental breakthroughs, and an array of techniques that you can use to communicate your idea with more impact.

Skip to 1 minute and 20 seconds In short, we’ll provide you with ways to generate more ideas, better ideas, and to act on them with more success, to help you shape your world.

What topics will you cover?

  • A historic overview of how ideas become innovations
  • Insights into the habits of successful innovators
  • Approaches and methods for understanding and categorising complex problems
  • Techniques for structuring and solving problems
  • Understanding ‘accidental’ invention and engineering your own luck
  • Recognising different forms of innovation
  • Idea-generation and evaluation techniques
  • Using the Lean Startup method to test your ideas out
  • How to network, influence, and pitch your ideas effectively

When would you like to start?

Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

  • Available now

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Develop your personal resource profile and innovation style to better focus your ideas
  • Explore historic, current, and future innovations that inspire you
  • Develop a toolkit of problem-solving and idea-generating techniques
  • Investigate engineering your own luck so that you have more and better ‘accidental’ ideas
  • Identify ways to start-up an idea with a minimum of effort and expense
  • Improve your pitching and influencing skills
  • Collaborate through online networking

Who is the course for?

This course is aimed at anyone interested in innovation and enterprise in the modern world, but may be of particular interest to students who are looking to develop their transferable skills for the workplace and general day-to-day life.

Who will you learn with?

Teaching Fellow at the University of Bristol's Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Co-Director of the MSc in Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

RSA and EEUK Fellow.

Neil is a Lecturer within the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Bristol. He also teaches at the Quantum Technology Enterprise Centre (QTEC).

Who developed the course?

University of Bristol

University of Bristol is one of the leading institutions among the UK’s Russell Group of universities and is recognised for its research and academic excellence.

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Ways to learn

Choose the best way to learn for you!

Subscribe & save

$27.99

For the first two months. Automatically renews

Develop skills to further your career

  • Access to this course
  • Access to 1,000+ courses
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Digital certificate when you're eligible

Cancel for free anytime

Buy this course

$134/one-off payment

Fulfill your current learning need

  • Access to this course
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible

Limited access

Free

Sample the course materials

  • Access expires 16 Apr 2024

Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)

T&Cs apply.

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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