The skills, frameworks, tools and personal connections made over the course of any of IEL modules support students in their development towards becoming Engineer Leaders – individuals who are strategic systems thinkers and value creators, who can identify market & technology opportunities, and engage people around them to deliver sustainable growth with societal impact. In addition to experiential modules, there is also recently introduced module introduces the concepts and applications of leadership using case studies.
Experiential Courses
The following IEL courses all apply Experiential Learning. Students work on current problems and technologies, in real life settings, supported by industry partners, seasoned industry professionals, academic staff and their fellow students. The rigor applied in the modules best prepares students for a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous work environment.
| Enterprise Development MT5920 | Frugal Innovation MT5912 | TechLaunch MT5913 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grow Tech Enterprises | Create More Value with Less | Take Tech to Market | |
| Rationale/ Relevance |
Enterprises need to keep innovating to stay competitive – this can be through new applications for existing technologies, or through the discovery and realization of new products/services for new markets. The process of identifying and qualifying opportunities within enterprises requires an understanding of the business (in terms of focus & constraints) aswell as external market forces to result in value creation. This course will help students to experience the innovation process in large corporates | Frugal innovation is required to create solutions that satisfy low cost requirements, good enough functionality and ability to work in challenging local conditions. Frugal Innovation provides the knowledge and hands-on experience for being able to understand and design such solutions with a sustainable business model that fits the local setting. | Many technological discoveries do not achieve commercialization. Common reasons are the lack of technology-market fit, and ability by the technical person to bring it to market. TechLaunch focuses on translating technology to real market needs and devising a suitable strategy for commercialization through hardware startups. |
| Expected Delivery | Each team works on an opportunity statement from a real company aiming to discover a new market for an existing technology or company competency. The objective is to identify market and technology gaps (Jobs to be Done), design new solutions and select the best solution, and provide a business plan that outlines a viable go-to-market strategy for the solution to the supporting company. | The objective is to devise solutions for specific pre-selected problems that focus on the Middle-of-the-Pyramid population globally. Students can identify and adapt existing technologies, or develop a corresponding solution that solves the needs of the population. The intent is to create sustainable companies if a solution can be developed and demonstrated – requiring the solution to include a business plan viable for the local setting. | Each team is assigned a patented technology with the potential for commercialization preselected from NUS R&D or local SMEs. The team will validate a market application through primary research, ensuring that it satisfies the criteria of Customer Desirability, Technology Feasibility and Business Viability. Upon successful identification of an application, the team will devise a commercialization strategy. |
| Learning Outcomes | Students will learn how corporations operate in their search, validation and selection of new areas of business. They will learn a methodology for selecting the best project and business model based on profitability, scalability (Entrepreneurial perspective) and project return such as NPV, IRR, ROI & Payback Period (Corporate perspective). Students will experience and learn, how to lead and manage the various stakeholders involved in a corporate setting. | Students will learn how to approach solving problems in a frugal way. They will learn to work with the minimum value product and how to obtain customer validation. Students will use the Mission Model Canvas to design a sustainable solution that satisfies a market need while considering the various factors involving the stakeholders. On the ground exposure to the problem statement will add realism and experiences that are vital – helping students to develop leadership skills that are required to best engineer a solution in a frugal setting. | Students will learn how to differentiate a business idea from a business opportunity and learn how to validate the multitude of assumptions inherent in any business plan in the market. Students will experience the typical creative and often unstructured start-up process that will challenge their innovation and leadership skills as they take up a leadership role in various aspects of developing a startup. Along with deep interactions with stakeholders in the field, students will develop real-life engineering leadership capabilities. |
| Workload | Average 10 p/w: 3hrs class-time + 7hrs of assignments including interviews | ||
| Schedule | Both semesters; evening classes | Mostly semester 2; evening classes | Both semesters; evening classes |
| Eligibility | Open to all graduate students of NUS, regardless of faculty. We also accept Research Fellows and Research Engineers on a case by case basis. | ||
Case Studies based Course
MT5922 Concepts and Application of Engineering Leaderships
| Rationale | This module exposes students in the College of Design and Engineering to the latest theories of leadership and discusses the application of leadership in context of engineering especially focusing on the challenges faced by engineering leaders e.g. leading oneself, managing following emotions, developing inspiring goals, leading change, and so on. This module pays special attention on self-leadership skills, in order to equip the students to develop into effective engineers or entrepreneurs. It aims to foster deeper understanding of leadership theories. It covers topics beyond self-leadership to issues of emotions, ethics, change, and diversity. |
| Learning Outcomes | On completion of the modules, students should be able to:
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| Workload | Average 10hrs per week |
| Schedule | Every Semester 1, evening classes |
| Eligibility | Open to all graduate students of College of Design and Engineering |