This course illustrates the concept of disruptive technology – where the pace of technological progress easily exceeds the rate of performance improvement that customers in a market demand. The cases we will cover highlight the implications of such innovation on the research, design, promotional, and business strategies involved.
The course is designed to help students recognize that technology is never neutral, but is always socially, politically and culturally situated. Students will be asked to recognize and confront their own cognitive biases, and to analyze disruptive technologies through case examples from the past, present and future.