Individual Course
Innovation Strategy: Tools and Frameworks for Business
Course Length
6 weeks
4–5 hours per week
Featuring faculty from:
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Certificate Price:
$ 1,850
Enroll by Mar 26, 2026
Enroll NowCertificate Price:
$ 1,850
Enroll by Mar 26, 2026
Enroll NowLearn how to implement tools and frameworks to bring powerful ideas to life.
In this practical course taught by experts from Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences—a global hub for technology and innovation across industries—you’ll develop a mindset for innovation.
From reframing tough challenges to rapid prototyping and creating business value, you’ll gain the hands-on tools to transform real-world problems into innovation. Through case studies featuring innovative leaders across industries and organizations, you will explore how companies have reimagined everyday products, disrupted entire industries, and unlocked new markets. Each module equips you with actionable tools to generate ideas, reduce risk through iteration, secure buy-in from stakeholders, and lead change—even in resource-constrained environments.
Whether you’re leading innovation inside a global organization or launching a new venture, you’ll walk away with a repeatable, transferable approach to move ideas forward faster and more confidently.
Self-Guided
- Upgrade Your Skills
Develop a Framework for Implementing Innovation
- Upgrade Your Skills
Prototype and Test Solutions
- Upgrade Your Skills
Sustain and Scale Innovation
- Learn from real case studies
- Do it on your own time
- Get a certificate, add it to your resume
- Be part of the Harvard Community
Course Syllabus
Innovation is more than generating ideas, it’s a way of thinking and working that transforms challenges into opportunities. This course integrates foundational principles of innovation with insights from leading innovators across industries and provides opportunities to practice and develop crucial skills so you can cultivate an innovation mindset that you can apply in your career and life.
Faculty
Your Instructor
David A. Weitz
Weitz is the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and of Applied Physics at Harvard University. He received his PhD in physics from Harvard University and then joined Exxon Research and Engineering Company, where he worked for nearly 18 years. He then became a professor of physics at the University of Pennsylvania and moved to Harvard at the end of the last millennium as professor of physics and applied physics. He leads a group studying soft matter science with a focus on materials science, biophysics, biotechnology, microfluidics and flow in porous media. Several startup companies have come from his lab to commercialize research concepts.
Your Instructor
David S. Ricketts
Dr. David S. Ricketts received his PhD from Harvard University and has held appointments at Carnegie Mellon University, Harvard University, MIT and North Carolina State University. He was the inaugural Innovation Science Fellow in the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Dr. Ricketts co-teaches ES139 Innovation in Science and Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He teaches and speaks regularly on innovation and business strategy. He focuses on the role of the individual innovator and helps senior leaders develop new innovators and systemic innovation in their companies.
In addition to Dr. Ricketts' innovation research, he is an award winning scientist and engineer whose innovations have been featured by Popular Science, Smithsonian, NBC News, CBS News, Fox News, ESPN, and many other science news outlets. He is the recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER Award and the U.S. Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Investigator Award. His work has appeared twice in Nature, as well as numerous IEEE publications. His scientific research focuses on the physical limitations of circuits and systems and how to address them through new materials, circuits and devices.
Your Instructor
Shuya Gong
Shuya Gong is a Preceptor in Harvard University’s Master in Design Engineering program. She also teaches ES 139: Innovation in Science and Technology as was formerly the Design Innovation Fellow at the Technology & Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard (TECH). Her research currently focuses on emotional ergonomics and how cyberphysical systems are reshaping human interaction, behavior, and value creation.
Previously, Shuya was an investor and Creative Director at IDEO CoLab Ventures, and served as a Design Director within IDEO’s Emerging Tech, Climate, and Systems Change practices. Her work spans collaboration with Fortune 50 companies including Citi, Nasdaq, Fidelity, H&M, and Target, helping to prototype future strategies, launch new ventures, and develop consumer brands such as Good & Gather, now a multi-billion dollar product line at Target. Across her work with corporations and ventures, she examines how emerging system dynamics position collaborative advantage as the defining factor in organizational competitiveness.
Shuya is also developing new methods and practices in regenerative design, advising a toolkit on Biodiversity+ Design, an initiative recognized by the UN, and apprenticing at Agape Healing, her family’s traditional Chinese medicine practice. Shuya holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Harvard University.
Innovation isn’t a job title—it’s a team skill.
Help your team build the confidence to innovate for real impact. Learn more about our solutions for groups.
Engaging learning experiences and high-quality online content that can be delivered at scale
Solutions that focus on today’s in-demand skill areas to help attract, retain and future-proof your workforce
A variety of formats, from long-form courses that replicate an on-campus classroom experience to short-form content
Interaction with a global community of learners and leaders looking to develop their workforce, grow their business, and change the world
Past Participant Discounts
Learners who have enrolled in at least one qualifying Harvard Online program can receive a 30% discount, automatically applied to the Program Fee upon time of payment.
Learners who have earned a verified certificate for a HarvardX course hosted on the edX platform are eligible to receive a 30% discount using a discount code. Please check your email for a code or contact us.