Master of Science in Product Innovation

Gain the skills and experiences to turn great ideas into great products.

The part-time Master of Science in Product Innovation advances your professional skills through coursework and the hands-on capstone experience – without stepping out of the workforce to advance your education.

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The products that we interact with daily - both digital and physical - shape our experiences of the world.  Through the coursework and capstone experience, you will develop your skills to create impact through new product development and product management. Current issues in product development such as novel materials, changing customer demographics, sustainability, sourcing challenges, and inclusivity through product design are woven throughout the program to equip students for success in a rapidly changing world.

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Just the Facts

How Much? How Long?
Who can enroll?

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NWA Community

What makes Northwest
Arkansas special?

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Courses and Schedule

What coursework is required for this degree?

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The Walton Advantage

Students are increasingly choosing the Walton Master of Science in Product Innovation to build the skills needed to turn ideas into market-ready products and drive innovation within startups and organizations alike.

Just the Facts: Master of Science in Product Innovation

Program Length

1-2 Years

The full-time program can be completed in 1 year. The professional part-time program can be completed in less than 2 years.

Start Date

Fall

Admissions Info

Do I Qualify to Enroll?

Complete your undergraduate degree and meet additional requirements. View Requirements

Entrance Test

GMAT or GRE

Students may be eligible for a GMAT/GRE test waiver with a 3.2 undergraduate GPA or 3 years of professional work experience. Please review our master's admissions policies.

Application Deadline

International applicants: February 15
Priority (domestic applicants): April 15
Final (domestic applicants): July 1

Total Estimated Cost

$24,506.40*

*In-state tuition and fees. Additional tuition costs applied for out-of-state and international students.
View cost details

Financial Assistance

Paying for College

Scholarships, Graduate Assistantships, and Financial Aid

Class Profile

Current Students

View a listing of current Master of Science in Product Innovation Students.

Walton Graduate Teams Keep Earning Top Honors

Graduate business students from the Sam M. Walton College of Business are gaining national recognition for venture ideas developed in the classroom, earning top placements and prize funding across a series of high-profile pitch competitions this academic year.

06/05/2026 | By Blake Woolsey

NWA Community

The Northwest Arkansas Community

Join a supportive and engaging community located in the vibrant business network of Northwest Arkansas, with over 300 Fortune 500 companies with a presence in the region.

Business leaders and Walton alumni are closely connected to the college, not just during your studies, but throughout your career.

More About Northwest Arkansas

Courses and Program Schedule

Students will complete a total of 30 credit hours of coursework designed to mirror the product development lifecycle and commercialization phases. Students may choose from two degree formats – the 2-year, part-time format or the 1-year full-time format. The program culminates with a multi-semester capstone experience.

Professional, Part-Time Course Schedule

Fall – Year One

SEVI 52303: Business Foundations for Innovators and Entrepreneurs This course will serve as a highly hands-on experience through the human-centered design process, organized around the following modules: design research, problem identification, concept generation and creativity, prototyping, testing, communication and visualization. Within this course, students have the structure and space to be collaborative, creative, and agile, enabling them to rapidly design viable solutions for their organizational partners. (Typically offered: Irregular)
ISYS 53203: Development with Digital Innovations This course exposes graduate business students with the ever evolving environment of modern software development. Using a hands-on approach to exploring modern software development tools and techniques students will learn how to conceptualize, design, and implement software product prototypes using a variety of emerging technologies. Students will gain understanding of how to evaluate digital innovations for inclusion into an ever-evolving software development environment to help accelerate development. Skills will focus on providing students the ability to quickly design and implement functional prototypes for business use-cases while exploring the introduction of innovations in the market.

Spring – Year One

SEVI 52303: Human Centered Design
SEVI 52403: Product Management This course presents an integrated overview of the field of product management. Through this interactive course, students will be able to take organizational innovation ideas formed in the pre-requisite Human Centered Design course to the next level by learning and implementing the fundamentals of product management which included improving technical acumen, strategy development, business modeling, product market fit, understanding OKR's, EPIC's, and Retrospectives.

Summer – Year One

SEVI 54403: Principles of Product Design & Prototyping Principles of Product Design and Prototyping develops foundational skills in product design, including hands-on experimentation with digital design and prototyping tools (e.g. Autodesk, Solidworks, Adobe). This course will pair readings, lectures, and hands-on mini-workshops to build confidence and capability in product design in the context of the student' own ideas.
SEVI 58603: Experimental Product Analytics

Fall – Year Two

SEVI 58803: Venture Creation Lab1
SEVI 54303: Legal, Social, and Economic Context This course is a master class on influence and the art of the pitch, to executives and investors. Students will learn communication skills in storytelling, smart brevity, and meaningful metrics and analytics that support decision making. In addition, students will learn how to create slide decks with high impact visuals. Finally, students will learn interdisciplinary leadership skills and networking that generate buy-in across functions like engineering and design, and a range of other stakeholder groups.

Spring – Year Two

SEVI 58903: Enterprise Innovation Lab2
SEVI 58703: Storytelling & Stakeholder Management

1SEVI 53203 New Venture Development I may be substituted for SEVI 58803 Venture Creation Lab with prior approval.

2SEVI 54103 New Venture Development II may substitute for SEVI 58903 Enterprise Innovation Lab with prior program director approval.


Full-Time Course Schedule

Fall – Year One

SEVI 52103: Business Foundations for Innovators and Entrepreneurs
ISYS 53203: Development with Digital Innovations
SEVI 53203: New Venture Development I

Spring – Year One

SEVI 52303: Human Centered Design
SEVI 52403: Product Management This course presents an integrated overview of the field of product management. Through this interactive course, students will be able to take organizational innovation ideas formed in the pre-requisite Human Centered Design course to the next level by learning and implementing the fundamentals of product management which included improving technical acumen, strategy development, business modeling, product market fit, understanding OKR's, EPIC's, and Retrospectives.
SEVI 54103: New Venture Development II
Elective

Summer – Year One

SEVI 54403: Principles of Product Design & Prototyping Principles of Product Design and Prototyping develops foundational skills in product design, including hands-on experimentation with digital design and prototyping tools (e.g. Autodesk, Solidworks, Adobe). This course will pair readings, lectures, and hands-on mini-workshops to build confidence and capability in product design in the context of the student' own ideas.
SEVI 58603: Experimental Product Analytics
Elective

Program Overview

The Master of Science in Product Innovation prepares students to turn great ideas into great products that shape the future. Learn the language of design, engineering, and business through experiential courses that push you to innovate around the product’s desirability, feasibility, and viability.

Top skills include problem identification, creative thinking, AI, product feature prioritization, social influence, rapid prototyping, data fluency, and business model design and validation.

Two Pathway Options

The Master of Science in Product Innovation degree is offered in a part-time (5 semesters, 6 hours per semester) format or a full-time (1 year, 12 hours per semester) format. Courses are taught through a blended-delivery format with both face-to-face and online components.

Part-time Students: Part-time students meet in-person for class one Saturday per month with remote work on the weeks in between. We work hard to create a manageable schedule for busy working professionals returning to school.

Full-time Students: Full-time students follow a similar format as part-time students but often have elective and capstone courses which meet on weeknights instead of the traditional one Saturday session per month. This compressed course schedule is designed for individuals who are not employed full-time and have greater flexibility in their day and time to devote to a heavier course load.

Capstone Options

New Venture Development Option – Students may choose a two-semester immersive startup development experience. This pathway consists of taking New Venture Development I in the fall and New Venture Development II in the spring. Students will have the opportunity to more fully develop their venture and compete in a variety of student business plan and business model competitions, nationally and internationally.

Enterprise Innovation Option – Students may choose a two-part immersive startup and enterprise innovation experience. This pathway consists of taking Venture Creation Lab in the fall and Enterprise Innovation Lab in the spring. Through this contrasting experience, students gain the best of both worlds: 1.) the end-to-end skills needed to develop a new venture and deep understanding of the business model to support it in a small, agile environment and 2.) the collaboration and prioritization skills needed to launch new products, services, or systems at scale in a large corporate setting. In Enterprise Innovation Lab, student teams work on a current challenge defined by the industry project sponsor to build, pitch, and present a working product.

The small cohort size of each group enables students to have a high level of engagement with faculty, project sponsors, and industry advisors in both pathways.

Saturday Class Dates

Fall
2026
Spring
2027
Summer
2027
August
22
January
23
May
22
September
12
February
13
June
12
October
3
March
13
June
26
November
7
April
10
July
24
December
5
May
1
 

* Students admitted to the professional programs in the Walton College are required to attend a multi-day orientation prior to the start of scheduled courses. Dates to be determined. Please contact gsb@walton.uark.edu for more information.

How Do I Enroll?

Admission to Walton College masters programs is selective. Enrollment in each program is limited.