MSc Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship / Course details
Year of entry: 2025
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Course description
Do you want to start your own business, join an innovative firm or shape innovation policy? The MSc Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship at Alliance MBS will equip you with the relevant skills to succeed. It offers a unique perspective on innovation owing to our expertise in areas such as sustainability, high-tech entrepreneurship, emerging technologies, and policy.
- Our modules will help you understand how the innovation process works, how companies organise to take advantage of internal and external sources of innovation, and the challenges of innovation for sustainability.
- You will gain understanding of new technologies, the new business models they enable, and the challenges and opportunities they create. You will also appreciate the role of location and how innovations emerge in different regions.
- You will learn how new innovative firms are created and develop practical skills in the application of widely used techniques in entrepreneurship.
- The MSc focuses on developing analytical and critical skills, research training, personal communication skills and effective team-working, which are useful in a wide range of careers.
- Throughout the programme, field trips and external speakers provide opportunities to learn best-practice from managers and entrepreneurs.
- You will be able to conduct your own research on an innovation management and entrepreneurship topic of your choice.
Special features
Students will have the opportunity to participate in an organised visit to Manchester’s digital incubators, to experience real-life applications of innovation management and entrepreneurship concepts covered on the course. Read about a visit to Manchester Technology Centre .
Coursework and assessment
Units are typically assessed by a combination of:
- Written work (essay, report or blog)
- Presentation
- Group project assessment
- Examination
Some blogs written by students have been published on the MIOIR blog .
The last third of the programme is spent researching and writing a dissertation, the choice of topic reflecting the student's interests and the expertise of the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIOIR) .
Course unit details
You will study for 180 credits in total.
- 8 core and optional units = 120 credits
- Dissertation = 60 credits
Students will complete four core units in semester 1 that provide theoretical and practical foundations in innovation management and entrepreneurship. In semester 2 students elect three units from the list of optional courses to suit their interests, with options in three core areas:
- firm innovation and strategy
- entrepreneurship and business creation, and
- innovation and society, focussing on e.g. global challenge, regional factors, and emerging technologies.
Over the summer period, you will carry out your Research Dissertation on an innovation management and entrepreneurship topic of your choice. Students’ dissertation topics reflect the diverse interests and expertise of research and teaching staff in the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIOIR) and Masood Entrepreneurship Centre (MEC). There are limited opportunities to undertake a dissertation project related to a new venture/start-up idea, or in collaboration with external partners.
Recent dissertation project topics include:
- Business model innovation for sustainability in the fashion industry
- Studying user involvement in medical device innovation processes in the UK
- The potential of Fintech as a disruptive innovation in Colombia
- Understanding women entrepreneurs of Pakistan
- Value Co-creation in the sharing economy
Course unit list
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
| Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entrepreneurship, Technology and Society | BMAN61001 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Innovation Management | BMAN71471 | 15 | Mandatory |
| High Tech Entrepreneurship | BMAN71721 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Tools and Methods for Innovation Analysis | BMAN71751 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Research methods and skills | BMAN72352 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Case Studies in Technology Strategy & Innovation Management | BMAN62042 | 15 | Optional |
| Place and innovation, from Silicon Valley to Graphene City | BMAN62062 | 15 | Optional |
| Innovation for Sustainability | BMAN70372 | 15 | Optional |
| Innovation & Strategy | BMAN71662 | 15 | Optional |
| Business Creation and Development | MCEL60032 | 15 | Optional |
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