Due date: Sunday, Sep 19, 2026
Total marks: 20
Google Sheet for entering choices. Last date for entering the choices: Tuesday, Sep 15.
Last edited: Sept 13, 2026, 16:45 (edited part in color)
Instructions:
1. Format: Please submit a PDF with 12pt font to Moodle. Maximum pages 4.
2. For every student, the town+sector combination (A+B) has to be unique, technology (C) has to be unique & innovation (I) has to be unique
3. For every answer, data source, a clickable link(s) needs to be inserted before the answer to the next question starts
4. It is ok to guess when information is not available. Please give a link to the source from which the guess is inferred.
Part 1: Innovation ecosystem of a region (total marks: 5)
1. Select a city/town, preferably your hometown (A). And a sector (such as automotive, textiles, IT, etc.) that is present in the town (B). Enter the selected town and sector in the sheet.
2. Using the six dimensions: (1) Government support (G), (2) Industry Bodies and Incubators (IB), (3) Established Firms (EF), (4) Startups (S), (5) Education & Research Institutes (ERI), (6) Investors, and a rating scale of 1 to 4, rate the innovation ecosystem of town A for sector B. This exercise is similar to the exercise we did in class 2 at a country level (India, France, and Germany), without any sector focus. (See slide 23, PDF page 12). In the class exercise, we had considered 5 dimensions (instead of 6). For each rating, please write a line to justify it. (marks: 3)
3. What is the strength of this regional innovation ecosystem? What is wekness/bottleneck? Why? (marks: 2)
Part 2: Assessment of a technology trend using 5 Es (total marks: 8)
4. Select an emerging technology (C) and a market (D) where the technology has been commercialized. Enter it in the Google sheet.
5. Where does the technology lie on the technology adoption lifecycle? This is similar to our exercises in class 3 (slides 10-12, PDF pages 5-6). Why? (marks: 1)
6. Identify 2 key milestones of technology C over the past 10 years in market D, and rate each milestone on 5 Es (Environment, Economics, Expertise, Enterprises, Enablers). This is similar to the exercise we did for videoconferencing and speech recognition technologies. Justify at least the ratings briefly. (marks: 5)
7. Currently, what are the bottlenecks for the adoption of the technology? Which Es do they belong to? Why? (marks: 2)
Part 3: two loops of innovation (marks: 7)
8. Identify an innovation (product/service/solution) (I) that has been launched in the market in the last 10 years. Enter it in the Google sheet.
9. What was the trigger for this innovation? When did it happen (approximately)? What circumstances/events/accident led to it? (marks: 2)
10. Identify 4 types of assumptions associated with this idea, at least one on each dimension - need, technology, scale-with-quality, and profit (marks: 1)
11. For each type of assumption, identify an activity that validated it. Estimate the cost, speed, and quality of feedback (fidelity) of the activity. (marks: 2)
12. Identify 2 people who made a big difference in moving the idea forward (other than the innovators). How did they help? (marks: 1)
13. Did the innovators exhibit any bias? If yes, give an example. If no, give an example where they exhibited overcoming a bias. (marks: 1)
