3.5 Launch and ExploitationThe objectives for the last phase on the model are focused on generating payback and managing the life cycle of the innovation. Building on previous research and practice about the financial returns from innovation (Andrew & Sirkin, 2006), teams should focus on (i) planning and executing the launch of innovations so that it can generate enough inertia to reach a diffusion tipping point as fast as possible, and (ii) generating sales in order to secure financial return.According to Andrew and Sirkin (2006) there are two important variables: (i) the time to reach volume production at the minimum scale needed to deliver payback for the organization, and (ii) the post‐launch investment needed to maximize payback.4. The Process of Learning to InnovateThe previous section summarized a general design thinking‐based innovation method created by studying various firms, and refined through a living laboratory at the business school and school of engineering at Adolfo Ibáñez University. I developed a course syllabus for an “Innovation Workshop” in which I wanted to test whether one could teach groups of ordinary students to develop extraordinary solutions for real problems. My motivation for creating these courses started as visiting research scientist at MIT Media Lab, between 2001 and 2002, where I found most faculty applying constructionism on the curricula of its courses. I was lucky to have met Mitchel Resnick, Sandy Pentland, Bakhtiar Mikhak and became aware of the teaching work of Neil Gershenfeld on his course “How to Make (Almost) Anything”. I have also gained and learned very much from contacts with Stefan Thomke, from HBS, and his course material for “Managing Product and Service Development”, and Stanford´s course Introduction to Human Computer Interaction (CS 147). Finally, my teaching approach was also heavily influenced by my participation at Harvard Business School Colloquium on Participant‐Centered Learning (CPCL), and as master and PhD student at various MIT and Harvard courses.Based on these courses and research (mentioned in Section 2), and the model illustrated in Figure 1, I developed a course syllabus that has been improved through 10 classes taught since 2007, with more than 500 students and about 100 project teams. After the success and results from this course, we developed a design thinking‐based Master on Innovation (MI) program, which is now on its second generation3. In this paper I will focus on the Innovation Workshop, rather than the MI, for two reasons: (i) the workshop has more history and results than the MI, and (ii) has been applied to train development teams within firms with good results.In the following section, I summarize the (i) objectives, (ii) teaching philosophy, (iii) structure, and (iv) outcomes of the course.