Fail early, fail often: Exploring Stanford's ME310 course as a basis to improve innovation outpost efficacy

Abstract

In this case study, we compare knowledge transfer between innovation teams in two contexts: an industry-sponsored graduate student capstone course to their corporate sponsors, and innovation outposts (IOs) to their parent companies. Through interviews with different stakeholders, we identified best practices for and challenges to innovation transfer, with personal relationships and tangible communication of ideas through prototypes being key to success. We call for more longitudinal studies to explore both the soft and hard benefits of innovation outposts.