Innovation, Design & Entrepreneurship in Engineering Education

Abstract

A quick literature survey shows that Engineering education has been undergoing change since more than a hundred years ago, largely due to the needs of industry. The current drive for change is not very different and comes from the perception that Engineering graduates of today are not able to function effectively in the workplace. This is in part due to the rapid development in technologies which in turn drives the evolution in the workplace. The educational imperative is also driven by the need to educate engineers who are able to develop innovative solutions to help make the world a better place. This paper presents the Innovation and Design program (iDP) which the National University of Singapore (NUS) has implemented to deliver a design education that also teaches innovation and entrepreneurship in the context of real world multi-disciplinary problems. The vision of the iDP is to produce graduates with an entrepreneurial mindset, which is achieved through experiential team project-based learning, incorporating design thinking, innovation framework, prototyping and testing, and a foundation for a business enterprise. The iDP is set up as a second major for all students in NUS