Developing Entrepreneurial Engineers

Bennett University, Greater Noida

There is broad consensus that engineering education needs to turn on its heads, and offer more experiential and meaningful exposure to the students. Specifically, accreditation institutions like the ABET (USA), NBA (India) and the Engineering Council (UK) are promoting the development of “well-rounded” engineering professionals with a focus on building skills in: commercial management, professional ethics, teamwork, creativity, communications, etc. But we can’t depend on accreditation agencies to drive change through compliance. Instead, we need a roadmap for engineering institutions in India (and surely, around the world) to guide their curriculum, pedagogy, assessment and other areas. Since the future belongs to the “Enterprising Engineer” – as stated by Gretar Tryggvason and Diran Apelian, we need a simple-yet-powerful framework to build entrepreneurial engineers of tomorrow.

We believe that entrepreneurship is vital for stimulating economic growth, employment opportunities and social well-being in all societies. This is particularly true in the developing world, where successful small businesses are the primary engines of job creation and poverty reduction. Hence, entrepreneurial leadership skills are important in all spheres of life, including but not limited to – startups, established enterprises, family-owned businesses, social enterprises and community-based organizations. Entrepreneurship is not just a technical process of launching new companies.; rather, it is a mind-set and set of personal and professional skills that foster the pursuit of innovation in business, personal and social contexts. Like other evolved disciplines, entrepreneurship has a body of knowledge that can be acquired through classroom andragogy. However, the true power of this discipline is unleashed through integration with engineering/science curricula and its practice in real-life circumstances.

The over-arching purpose of this session is to discuss the challenges and successes in creating engineering education institutions that encourage student’s entrepreneurial and innovation skills. The session will highlight academic and practitioner case studies, and encourage a dialogue that promotes inter-disciplinary learning for all.