I spoke with Prof. Nov about the group term project. He confirmed what we had talked about earlier that we should only put stuff in the project that is covered in this course. That means no financial analysis or detailed description about the product we are developing. For reference, here is the basic outline for the project, taken from the course syllabus: Course assignments: Group project

• Develop the case for an innovative process or product.
• The project may involve an entirely new product or service, or relate to an existing company, industry or product category.
• The presentation should build the case for the proposed innovation, and demonstrate your understanding of the course materials. The presentations may include things like:
  • Background
  • External and internal environment and constraints.
  • Objectives and how they will be achieved.
  • Critical analysis of the factors in the success / failure.
• Deliverables:
  • 20-30 minute presentation; 10-15 minute discussion.
  • A 3-4 page executive summary.

Me and Mark met and went over the course material and our project to figure out what we could write about. Many of these issues overlap and we should definitely sit down and and organize them better. My suggestion is that our table of contents will be ordered around the new product development process and thats the way I have ordered it. Way down below is the original transscript organized by course slides:

1. Opportunity identification and selection:
   1. We could go over our idea generation process. We have covered each of these ideas in our project book.
   2. Describe our (very informal) project screening.
   3. How we will maintain knowledge (web page). Knowledge management. Why do we need knowledge management (or do we need at all? (forces driving knowledge management)).
   4. Spiral of knowledge (mabye?). Programs or rewarding postings on web page.
   5. Doing a doctor webpage surveys, online. Gathering knowledge. Community of practice.
2. Concept generation:
   1. Type of innovation: Radical innovation / Market breakthrough.
   2. Type of product: New-to-the-world.
   3. What type of firm, big or small, and how we would organize it.
   4. S-curve: Quality of life on y-axis for the combined product. Do we do S-curves for supporting technologies? (Insulin injection, invasive continuous measurements).
   5. Disruptive vs sustaining.
   6. Creativity (connect that any way possible to the concept generation process in the product development process).
   7. Output: Write a PIC (product innovation charter) and contract book.
3. Concept evalution:
   1. Product lifecycle (exit strategies, break-even analysis?).
   2. Porter's five force model.
   3. Stakeholder analysis (employees, owners, customers (families of customers).
   4. Internal analysis (SWOT) and core competencies.
   5. Define our value chain.
   6. Dominant design (competition), returns to adoption, learning curve (ties into timing of entry).
   7. Network externalties and stand alone value (mabye cheaper insulin, cheaper product (we're stretching here)).
   8. Output: Product protocol (a statement of what is wanted from the new product (list of customer needs).
4. Development:
   1. How will we develop the product?
   2. Involving patients (e.g. how will we test it, beta testing, hospital distribution). Involving suppliers. Basically, who do we involve?
   3. R&D process? Will we collaborate with universities or the big companies in our field. Government grants?
   4. Teams (diverse). How will we structure teams in our development process. Type of team. Virtual teams.
   5. Patents (licencing) and FDA approval (standards).
   6. Pricing strategy (Printer (Razor) model).
5. Launch:
   1. Timing of entry. Why would we want to be first to market or early followers? Go over factors in slides. Ties into Porter.
   2. Sales, marketing.
   3. In retrospect (used after the launch of the product, not applicable here).

And for reference, here are the issues by course slides: First slide:

• Type of innovation: Radical innovation / Market breakthrough.
• Type of product: New-to-the-world.
• What type of firm, big or small, and how we would organize it.
• S-curve: Quality of life on y-axis for the combined product. Do we do S-curves for supporting technologies? (Insulin injection, invasive continuous measurements).
• Product lifecycle (exit strategies, break-even analysis?).
• Disruptive vs sustaining.

Second slide:

• Timing of entry. Why would we want to be first to market or early followers? Go over factors in slides. Ties into Porter.

Third slide:

• How will we develop the product?
  • How will we involve patients.
  • R&D process? Will we collaborate with universities or the big companies in our field. Government grants?
  • Porter's five force model.
  • Stakeholder analysis (employees, owners, customers (families of customers).
  • Internal analysis (SWOT) and core competencies.
  • Define our value chain.

Fourth slide and fifth slide:

• Define and organize our product development process.
  • The basic process.
  • Testing.
  • Marketing.
  • Sales strategy.
  • Evaluation...
• Involving patients (e.g. how will we test it, beta testing, hospital distribution). Involving suppliers. Basically, who do we involve. Ties into third slide, R&D process.
• Teams (diverse). How will we structure teams in our development process. Type of team. Virtual teams.
• Write a PIC (product innovation charter) and contract book?
• Patents (licencing) and FDA approval (standards).
• Pricing strategy (Printer (Razor) model).

Sixth slide:

• Dominant design (competition), returns to adoption, learning curve (ties into timing of entry).
• Network externalties and stand alone value (mabye cheaper insulin, cheaper product (we're stretching here)).

Seventh slide and eight slide:

• How we will maintain knowledge (web page). Knowledge management. Why do we need knowledge management (or do we need at all? (forces driving knowledge management)). Patents
• Spiral of knowledge (mabye?). Programs or rewarding postings on web page.
• Doing a doctor webpage surveys, online. Gathering knowledge. Community of practice.

Ninth slide:

• Creativity (connect that any way possible to the concept generation process in the product development process).