Innovation & entrepreneurship in engineering

MGT-555 / 10 credits

Teacher(s): Michaud Véronique, Weber Thomas Alois

Language: English

Withdrawal: It is not allowed to withdraw from this subject after the registration deadline.

Remark: Inscription nécessitant l'autorisation préalable des enseignants

Summary

This course is a joint initiative between the School of Engineering and the College of Management to encourage and promote entrepreneurship and management skills, engineering design, hands-on experience, teamwork, and awareness of social and ethical implications in engineering and management.

Content

The material is taught in four modules, including Systems Engineering, Product Design Principles, Business Economics, and Prototyping Practice. A key component of the course consists of a team project, usually conducted in collaboration with an industry partner, addressing a significant commercial need and/or societal issue. Lectures will be given by domain experts. The first part of the course focuses on product design. Students will be working in multidisciplinary teams to define a product concept, draft a prototype and propose a plan for product commercialization. At the conclusion of the course, the projects will be entered in a prize competition, judged by a panel of industry experts and faculty.

Topics include: Design Criteria * Modularity * Project Planning * Lifecycle Analysis * Investment Criteria * Real Options * Electric Circuits * Reliability Engineering * Materials * Robotics * Software Development * Intellectual Property * Machining, 3D printing and Assembling a Prototype * Environmental Sustainability * Ergonomics

 

Keywords

Business economics, product design, systems engineering, technology commercialization, hands-on practice

Learning Prerequisites

Required courses

To be able to register for this course, instructor permission is required. For this, students are asked to prepare a 1-page motivation statement, to be sent per email by September 5 at the very latest to the course coordinator (ru.zhang@epfl.ch).

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the student must be able to:

  • Translate specifications into product design
  • Assess / Evaluate the economic viability of product at different development phases
  • Manage the production of a prototype
  • Develop a plan for the commercialisation of the product
  • Translate specifications into product design
  • Assess / Evaluate the economic viability of product at different development phases
  • Manage the production of a prototype
  • Develop a plan for the commercialisation of the product

Transversal skills

  • Communicate effectively, being understood, including across different languages and cultures.
  • Evaluate one's own performance in the team, receive and respond appropriately to feedback.
  • Set objectives and design an action plan to reach those objectives.

Assessment methods

  • 40% Presentation
  • 50% Report/prototype
  • 10% Collaboration

 

Supervision

Office hours No
Assistants Yes
Forum Yes

Resources

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)

No

Moodle Link

In the programs

  • Semester: Fall
  • Number of places: 50
  • Exam form: During the semester (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Innovation & entrepreneurship in engineering
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Project: 8 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional
  • Semester: Fall
  • Number of places: 50
  • Exam form: During the semester (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Innovation & entrepreneurship in engineering
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Project: 8 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional
  • Semester: Fall
  • Number of places: 50
  • Exam form: During the semester (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Innovation & entrepreneurship in engineering
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Project: 8 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional
  • Semester: Fall
  • Number of places: 50
  • Exam form: During the semester (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Innovation & entrepreneurship in engineering
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Project: 8 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional
  • Semester: Fall
  • Number of places: 50
  • Exam form: During the semester (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Innovation & entrepreneurship in engineering
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Project: 8 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional
  • Semester: Fall
  • Number of places: 50
  • Exam form: During the semester (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Innovation & entrepreneurship in engineering
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Project: 8 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional
  • Semester: Fall
  • Number of places: 50
  • Exam form: During the semester (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Innovation & entrepreneurship in engineering
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Project: 8 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional
  • Semester: Fall
  • Number of places: 50
  • Exam form: During the semester (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Innovation & entrepreneurship in engineering
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Project: 8 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional
  • Semester: Fall
  • Number of places: 50
  • Exam form: During the semester (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Innovation & entrepreneurship in engineering
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Project: 8 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional

Reference week

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