TIE 251 Product Innovation and Prototyping
This course provides hands-on experience in transforming validated customer insights into tangible product concepts. Students will plan and manage early product development projects using agile and design-thinking principles. Emphasis is placed on customer need assessment, prototyping, and early-stage validation with real users. Teams will design and build low- and high-fidelity prototypes of their TIE venture projects. Through structured customer feedback sessions, students will learn how to iterate and refine product designs. The course introduces tools for cost–benefit and feasibility analysis to support design decisions. Faculty mentors guide students through design sprints, prototyping labs, and milestone reviews. Assessment is progress-based, focusing on prototype evolution and learning from customer validation. By the end of the course, students will have a functional prototype ready for further development. The course directly supports the development of sustainable and innovation-driven ventures at KAUST.