Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Instructors:
Dr. Gregory Tangonan
1st Semester SY2010-2011
Course Description
Though technology plays a very important role in our lives, we seldom reflect on how
technology happens or even on how it develops. This course is aimed at students as
future technologists, the focus is on strategic thinking and the role of innovation in
changing the technical landscape. We address questions like: what makes something
hot, how new technologies have developed, what makes for technology into a busi-
ness success, and how do successful technologies lead to whole new industries? This
course surveys themes like technology and society, creation of new technology com-
panies based on new ideas, and global competitiveness. We will need to understand
the technical basis of new developments but our objective is to understand the global
context of technology development as well.
The competitive landscape is changing rapidly, today focused R&D and product de-
velopment teams in developing companies can compete globally. The origins of the
“flattening” of the competitive environment will be a major focus of the class lectures
and student presentations. Our efforts will be to understand how these forces affect
the Philippines. We will study the strategic role that intellectual property – patenting,
licensing, and trade secrets – plays in securing for entrepreneurs their intellectual eq-
uity.
Course Objectives
The course will develop skills in strategic thinking about technology and soci-
ety. The course will hone studentʼs presentation skills, especially in making
concise and insightful presentations on technical topics.
This course will develop information gathering, information analysis, and criti-
cal thinking skills that will prove useful in your future careers.
Students will analyze the development of the iPod / iPad and how the new
iPad/ iPhone fits within a strategy that will remake Apple and change several
industries. The hot new iPad that costs only $499 with WiFi only is a real stra-
tegic breakthrough for Apple. The focus will be on developing new applica-
tions for these tablet devices in new markets like personal health manage-
ment and personal wellness. This is also a story of world class Innovation as
driven by highly focused teams led by super-
innovators like Steve Jobs. So this class focuses on
the Innovator as the creator of new industries, by ask-
ing: What is the innovation process of Apple? How
have they come up with tremendous new products -
Mac, iPod, iPhone and now the iPad - that are truly
game changing innovations. To this end the students
will start by analyzing the innovation process of Apple by a class reading of
Inside Steveʼs Brain by Leander Kahney. At the
same time the students are going to be
challenged to understand the booming market of
applications for these new devices. They will
analyze applications in a specific field like
gaming and determine the potential impact on
the Industry of new media platforms like the
iPad. Then the students will then present their
idea for a new application and why they believe
it can sell. No need for coding of the applications
now, just develop the concept for a new application.
This semesterʼs focus areas are Sustainable Solutions for Energy Environ-
ment and Application to Improved Health and Wellness. We will begin the dis-
cussions by looking at the major new innovations in these fields for the last
Course Requirements
Meeting deadlines for presentation is of great importance in evaluating stu-
dent performance. Students are required to make four major presentations to
the class and to participate in meaningful class discussions of presentations.
In most cases, the presentations and proposals are Power Point slides (5
charts max – 5 minutes max). Not meeting deadlines will result in a significant
lowering of the high grade that students start with. The grading scheme is
based on class presentations, class participation and reaction papers.