FDSC41060 Creativity & Innovation: Food

Academic Year 2024/2025

Rethinking current food systems is an urgent priority in order to address numerous challenges such as climate change, ageing population, poor diet related health outcomes and food waste. The problems are complex and it is necessary for stakeholders along the food chain to think and act differently, and to identify opportunities for change, whether this is new product development, improved services or business models.
There is a need to think and act with a more creative, innovative manner.
In this module students will have a chance to explore and develop new approaches to creativity and innovation and to reflect upon and re-imagine their own practice of creative thinking, which can be applied in both their personal and/or professional practices. Particularly the within the food industry.
The aim of the module is to help students to access their innate ability for independent creative thinking and innovation in its broadest sense and to develop an innovation mindset in exploring ideas. We draw upon the Design Thinking (DT) framework in learning how to work through a process of understanding the user/customer, generating ideas, prototyping and testing.
Skill development in three learning areas will allow students to develop new ways of thinking creatively and entrepreneurially :

1. Developing creative confidence. The objective is to introduce students to the inherent risk of failure in creative thinking and how to learn through prototyping and iteration. This will take place through a range of simple activity-based exercises.
2. Understanding the evolution of innovative ideas employing the widely used and trusted Design Thinking process, where students will undertake an innovative design challenge. Students will learn and practice the key skills of empathy/customer discovery, defining problems to be solved, idea generation, prototyping and feedback. The design thinking process will also nurture their creative confidence, curiosity, communication and collaborative skills.
3. How to translate ideas into value by examining the degree to how their work has identified problem-solution fit and product-market fit. Students will draw on examples of their experience within the Food Industry, relevant to their own area of expertise.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On completion, students should:
● Have an excitement for innovation and an appreciation of the value of design thinking as a creative problem solving framework.
● Have the ability and confidence to recognise, cultivate and apply creative and innovative thinking in their own context and appreciate its value in other arenas.
● Be able to identify problems-to-be-solved and generate innovative solutions to these problems, particularly in the area of food and health
● Appreciate the various challenges involved in the design process and how to deliver successful innovation that adds value.
Topics that will be covered include:
● The importance of creativity and innovation
● Fostering Creative Confidence and an Innovative Mindset
● The value of the Design Thinking Framework
● The stages of the DT framework: empathy and customer discovery, define, ideate, prototype and test
● Communicating ideas
● Reflective practice

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

16
Tutorial

4
Specified Learning Activities

16
Autonomous Student Learning

75
Total

111
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This module will be delivered online through the UCD VLE system (Brightspace). This module is designed for students to work through the lecture material at their own pace as much as possible, while meeting the assessment dates. The approach is ‘learning by doing’ and applying skills to an individual problem solving project with a food system challenge perspective.
• Lectures will be uploaded weekly with regular associated e-challenges.
• Asynchronous discussion forum will enable peer-to-peer and tutor interactions.
• Live online practical tutorials
 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Portfolio: Assessment will consist of
- e-challenges
- a short creative project pitch
- a reflective report piece on the learning and self-development achieved

 n/a Pass/Fail Grade Scale No

100

Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Remediation Type Remediation Timing
In-Module Resit Prior to relevant Programme Exam Board
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Not yet recorded
Name Role
Mr Maurice Knightly Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dorcas Réamonn Lecturer / Co-Lecturer