Servitisation, Co-creation and Business Development (OPEN UNI)

The recommended, but not mandatory, prerequisite is that the learning outcomes of the following courses and their predecessors are accomplished: Digitalisation and Innovation.

After completing the course, the student will be able to:

• develop software business in new businesses and established businesses,
• conduct market analysis to estimate the market potential for the business,
• apply the basics of financial calculation,
• understand differences in business models,
• understand the concept of servitisation,
• understand the concept of co-creation, as well as
• discuss about the benefits and trade-offs regarding the development of the business idea together with teammates.

The student can choose between participation in guided exercises (which are arranged on Campus and/or in Zoom) and a self-study option without participation to guided exercises. However, also in the self-study option the student works in a team with other students and regularly meets with that team online. Students who choose exercise participation are required to participate in all exercises (if you know you would be missing several exercises, choose the self-study option instead)

The Moodle course workspace contains all course-related information and materials: pre-recorded lecture videos, study material and weekly lecture material that students read/view independently, and all assignment instructions.

It is possible to complete the course without coming to the Campus (fully online).

For writing the business plan, students work in teams of 4-5 students. Exercises to support this teamwork are offered on Campus and in Zoom. If too few students enroll to a specific exercise group, that group will not be arranged. In addition, students are offered the possibility to complete the team-work without participation to exercises (called "self-study", although the students work in teams also there).

Karin Väyrynen

The course utilizes a practitioner-oriented book on business planning, scientific articles, pre-recorded lecture videos, as well as additional reading and viewing material.

All course materials will be provided in the Moodle workspace.

This student has to complete a number of assignments throughout the course, with continuous assessment.

The student completes weekly quizzes about pre-recorded lectures and other reading material. In addition, the student writes a business plan together with a team of other students, peer-reviews another team's product description and complete business plan, and presents their own business plan. The student also takes a Moodle exam during week 3 or 4 of the course (date to be specified when the course starts). Self-study teams participate in 1-2 oral exams about their business plan.

Time the student should reserve: Lecture videos, independent reading of material and weekly lecture material quizzes 25 hours, exercises 14 hours, individual and team assignments 79 hours, moodle exam 15 hours

Numerical scale 1-5 or fail

Students have to complete a number of assignments during the course, with weekly deadlines for those assignments. Some assignments are conducted as individual work, others as teamwork. Some assignments are evaluated with points, others as pass/fail.

The course assignments to be assessed are:

-) 6 quizzes about the learning material (each week one quiz, individual work)

-) first few days of the course: coming up with and describing 2 software product ideas (which need to fulfill certain requirements that are instructed about in the Moodle workspace; individual work)

-) writing a business plan with several intermediate submissions (teamwork)

-) 2 peer reviews: about the product description of another team's business idea, and about the complete business plan of another team (individual work)

-) presentation of the team's business plan ("pitch", teamwork)

-) completing a moodle exam (individual work)

-) self-study teams: oral exam (30 min) 1-2 times during the course

The course utilizes Moodle to provide the online study environment. Students will be provided access to the Moodle environment a few days before the course starts (read your emails regulatory already before the course officially starts!).

IMPORTANT: The first assignment deadline is already a couple of days after the course has started. Students have to reserve already around 15 - 20 hours of time to complete within 3 days after the start of period 2 (2 different assignments). Late-comers will therefore not be accepted in this course.

Students who have not accessed the Moodle workspace within three days after the course starts will be removed from the course (as they will already be late with several assignments at that point).

The course requires a lot of time to complete, and students are expected to be fully committed to invest the required work amount.

Course information will be sent to the students' University of Oulu email address already about a week before the course starts . This means that students enrolled via Open University have to read and reply to emails (sent to their University of Oulu student email address) daily from then on. Students have to read and reply to emails (sent to their University of Oulu student email address) daily from then on.

Self-study teams have to participate in 1-2 meetings (length per meeting: 30 min) with the teacher(s) in Teams to demonstrate that they have full understanding of their own business plans in form of an oral exam. We will inform about the details once the course starts.

This course is limited to a maximum of 5 exchange students. In addition, priority is given to students studying in Information Processing Science degree program, and next to those studying in Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering.