SGIA40H30: Defence Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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• To provide students with a deep knowledge and understanding of institutional change and innovation in defence organisations;
• To equip students with a range of methodological tools focused around Lean Start-up principles that can be applied to the defence sector;
• To provide high quality experiential learning by working on a real-world problem;
• To provide students with the means to critically assess the value and relevance of methodological tools as they relate to specific problems;
• To help students develop a problem-solving skills that can be used in a range of other contexts.

• Defence Innovation and Entrepreneurship (DIE) is an interdisciplinary module that provides students with the opportunity to work with defence and security sector providers to better address contemporary challenges. The module is an applied one that sees students form teams to engage directly with complex, real-world challenges , proposed by UK government sponsors. DIE covers policy, economics, technology, and other areas needed to address the sponsors proposed real world challenges.
• In the module, students will be assigned a team and a specific policy or practice challenge. Each team will be provided with a range of relevant methodological tools and techniques that can be used to develop a response to this challenge. The module will involve close engagement with government agency end-users, in order to understand their real-world challenges and the bureaucratic politics of developing viable institutional responses.
• The module is designed to give the experience of working as a team and turn an idea into a solution to a specific real-world challenge.
• In addition to classroom time, the modules demands include 10 hours of interviews per week (per group) as well as course reading, and flipped seminars. An illustrative list of topics covered in the lectures includes: Introduction to Mission Model Canvas; Beneficiaries and Stakeholders; Mission Budget and Operating Plan; Interview Processes and Ethics. Students will also need to be available for one session of interview training and ethics as well as a team meeting.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• On completion of this module, students will have acquired advanced knowledge and understanding of:
• Entrepreneurial methodologies, rooted in Lean Start-Up principles and the Mission Model Canvas;
• The application of Lean Start-Up principles to real-world problems, and how to develop and test hypotheses as a problem-solving technique;
• The national security and defence domain, and the processes and challenges associated with institutional and conceptual change within it.

Subject-specific Skills:

• By the end of the module students should be able to:
• Apply the Lean Start-Up methodology.

Key Skills:

• Students will develop important key skills, suitable for underpinning study at this and subsequent levels, such as:
• Develop interview skills, through weekly interviews, whether in person, by phone or video-call;
• Gather, organise, evaluate and interpret information from a variety of sources;
• Make use of constructive feedback to achieve progression in understanding, methods and judgement;
• Develop and apply entrepreneurial and key professional/transferable skills including: teamwork; complex problem-solving; building professional networks; market research;
• Gain specialised and empirically based knowledge and understanding of a complex problem;
• Engage in critical analysis, independent judgment, complex problem solving, team coordination, and oral and written presentation to a level commensurate with taught postgraduate study;
• Critically engage with a wide body of literature and concepts;
• Develop informed and critical judgement;
• Manage the individual learning process as well as the ability to work as a part of a team;
• Presenting complex ideas in a concise format.

• This one term module is based on a flipped classroom model which aims to maximise student engagement during class time.
• Students are required to access the weekly asynchronous online learning materials and to prepare for each class by reading the recommended resources. The information in the weekly resources and readings will allow students to complete their interviews, and provide essential material to support student presentations and discussions in seminars.
• Students will spend a significant amount of time conducting interviews related to their project. The interviews will involve parts of the Mission Model Canvas (MMC); a visual tool and framework developed to rapidly test hypotheses against solutions for government issues. Using this tool supports student understanding of what start-ups and entrepreneurship entail, including an appreciation of the need to take conceptually-sound decisions amidst uncertainty, challenging deadlines, and often conflicting input. The MMC also helps students demonstrate the progress they have made. Weekly student back-briefs of the iterative development of the MMC in the weekly seminar also provides a mechanism for the provision of informal oral formative feedback throughout the module.
• The module involves a number of assessment types that contribute to the learning outcome of the module. Formal submission will take place in two phases, such that students will receive feedback on the first two submissions in good time prior to the submission deadline for the second two assessments.
• Demonstration/evidence of interviews undertaken via a learning log: Individual and Group Work to comprise 10 per cent of total marks available; checked weekly by module convenor in seminars and submitted formally at the end of term. Students will receive informal feedback on progress throughout the module based on their learning log, and formal written feedback on this submission is to be returned in good time ahead of the submission date for the reflective essay and video presentation (below). This matches the learning outcomes of developing hypotheses; understanding defence innovation; developing and implementing interview skills and reflecting on different interview techniques; and managing the individual learning process as well as the ability to work as a part of a team.
• Demonstration of the weekly iterations to the Mission Model Canvas, including the final Mission Model Canvas at the end of term, with feedback returned to students in good time ahead of the submission date for the reflective essay and video presentation (below): Group Work to comprise 40 per cent of total marks available; checked weekly by module convenor in seminars and then final MMC to be reviewed at end of module. This matches the learning outcomes of the application of learn start-up methodologies to real world problems; developing and testing hypotheses as a problem-solving technique; effectively using materials from interviews and academic literature; gathering, organising, evaluating and interpreting information from a variety of sources; making use of constructive feedback to achieve progression in understanding, methods and judgement.
• A 2,000-word reflective type essay that narrates the journey of the lean start-up from inception to final product: Individual Work comprising 40 per cent of total marks available. To be submitted at the end of the module, in the second phase of submissions. This matches the learning outcomes of gathering, organising, evaluating and interpreting information from a variety of sources; gaining specialised and empirically based knowledge and understanding of a complex problem; engaging in critical analysis and independent judgment; critically engaging with a wide body of literature and concepts; and developing informed and critical judgement.
• A two-minute video presentation of the end product of the lean start-up as if presented to the client/end-user. This involves a self-made/edited video that presents and/or visualises the result of the lean start-up initiative: Individual Work comprising 10 per cent of the total marks available. To be submitted at the end of the module, in the second phase of submissions. This matches the learning outcomes of demonstrating knowledge of defence engagement issues; and presenting key ideas in a concise format.

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