First Things First

Although successful new product development practices often require joint efforts of professionals from various departments, all too often these professionals are trained as specialists with little exposure to other functional viewpoints. Colin Clipson describes the results of an educational initiative designed to bring together selected technical, business and design students enrolled in classes at The University of Michigan. Members of various student teams quickly ascertained a need to overcome language and cultural barriers in order to develop product recommendations for sponsoring firms. The results of this educational experiment have implications for current educational programs as long as improved innovation management is seen as a desirable social goal.