Learn to Innovate Online with These 6 Courses from MIT Open Learning

It’s more important than ever for professionals to build the skills and capabilities they need to drive innovation. In a recent McKinsey study, more than 75% of executives surveyed predicted that the COVID-19 crisis would create significant new opportunities for growth. Instead of simply adapting to it, innovators from all industries must embrace and leverage disruption to thrive.

Now that we’re all spending more time online, there is no better time to learn innovation frameworks and techniques. MIT offers a number of online resources for entrepreneurs and innovators at all levels. Here are 6 of our favorites:

Free Innovation and Entrepreneurship MOOCs:

1. You Can Innovate: User Innovation & Entrepreneurship is an online MITx course taught by Eric von Hippel, the founding scholar of user innovation, and Erdin Beshimov, the founder of MIT Bootcamps. In this course, you will learn to identify a problem, develop a solution, and bootstrap your entrepreneurial venture. You can audit this course for free or earn an MITx certificate for only $49.
2. Entrepreneurship 101 is an online MITx course that guides you through case studies of MIT startup companies to build the framework you need for turning your idea into a business. This course is also suggested preparation for MIT Bootcamp programs, which challenge participants to start a company with guidance from MIT faculty and entrepreneurs. You can audit this course for free or earn an MITx certificate for only $49.
3. Entrepreneurship 102 is an online MITx course taught by Bill Aulet, Managing Director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, and Erdin Beshimov, founder of MIT Bootcamps. In this course, you will learn to translate user needs into product priorities and product priorities into experience design. This course is also a prerequisite for participating in MIT Bootcamp programs. You can audit this course for free or earn an MITx certificate for only $49.
   

   Immersive Online Innovation Courses

4. MIT Innovation Leadership Bootcamp combines live teaching sessions and workshops (recorded for added flexibility) with MIT faculty, instructors, and practitioners, global collaboration, and regular team-based coaching by experienced MIT entrepreneurs for a hands-on, immersive, and rigorous learning experience that will help you build a venture with a global team in just 10 weeks.
   
   Applications for the Innovation Leadership Bootcamp (starting in Feb 2021) will open in October 2020. Applications for this program are currently closed. Visit MIT Bootcamps for updates about the next available sessions.
5. MIT-Harvard Medical School Healthcare Innovation Bootcamp offers guidance from MIT and Harvard Medical School instructors on the principles central to innovation: problem discovery, ideation, user innovation, customer sense-making, and more. Your team will be coached by MIT innovators with healthcare experience and you’ll hear from entrepreneurs, investors, and others from MIT and Harvard Medical School’s diverse ecosystems. Similar to the MIT Innovation Leadership Bootcamp, you will also build a venture with a global team in just 10 weeks.
   
   Applications for this program are currently closed. Visit MIT Bootcamps for updates about the next available sessions.
   
6. Technical Innovation: From Strategy to Application is recommended for professionals looking to improve processes, products, and business models through innovation in technical environments. Taught by Sanjay Sarma, MIT Vice President for Open Learning and Professor of Mechanical, this 3-week course will give you the tool you need to execute innovative ideas, from lean and agile methodologies, to rapid prototyping and design. This course starts on November 2, 2020. Learn more.

Professor Sarma notes, “It used to be that skills picked up in school and college lasted a lifetime. Now, with changing job categories, rapidly evolving technology and business practices, and the possibility of shorter tenures in a given job, it feels as if staying ahead of the game with continuous education is as important as going to the gym.”

Driving change in your organization and launching entrepreneurial ventures has never been more important. Innovation insights from MIT faculty and industry experts have never been more accessible. We hope that exploring these courses and programs sparks your imagination and motivates you to start learning innovation online today!