university - business cooperation to enhance innovation and entrepreneurship using pbls

3th Active Learning in Engineering Education Workshop (ALE) International Symposium on Project Approaches in Engineering Education (PAEE) 5th International Research Symposium on PBL (IRSPBL)

University-Business cooperation to enhance Innovation and Entrepreneurship using PBLs Osane Lizarralde, Felix Larrinaga, Urtzi Markiegi,


Objectives: Boost entrepreneurship and innovation by means of collaboration with companies and to transfer R&D results from university to industry and Society using active learning techniques. Build Entrepreneurship Itinerary for Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science / Telecommunication Start by applying it in 3rd year (Bachelor degree) and 1st year (Master degree) Include it in a contest organized by Mondragon University’s and other agents (industry, entrepreneurship centres, …) Measure the impact of related actions (learning sessions, workshops, PBL projects,…)

Innowave, Canvanyzer,

Business Model Innovation and User Driven Innovation &Design Thinking



Results: Mainly focus on outcome results. 2014-2015 not finished yet!!!

Outcome 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15

Ideas

Promoted ideas

Spin offs

10/3

3/3

0

27/4

2/2

1/1

49/4

3/3

1/1

91+14=105/8

6/4

1/1

70 +14=84 /8

4+…./….. (NA yet)

1+…../1+….. (NA yet)

Groups

Participants

Experts

Evaluators

Events

Activity integrated in courses

Avg. grade of ideas

10/3

40/12

10

9

11

.

-

27/4

92/14

10

9

16

-

3,76

46/4

15/14

10

9

24

-

4,77

98/8

240/25

14

10

24

5

5,9

78 / 8

276/ 31

14

10

15

13

(NA yet)

KPIs of the contest during the last 4 years (Total number MU/ only number of ICT degrees)


Conclusions: • The entrepreneurship itinerary for ICT is well designed and the results obtained go in the right direction.

• University Business Cooperation is essential. A “strong” network (company and public administration) and the involvement of stakeholders and beneficiaries is a key factor for success.

• Involvement from all the agents (University research groups, company /public administration, entrepreneurship centres) in the early stages (ideation) is very important. But also during prototyping and development and further

• Economic factors also affect ideas promoted and spin-offs. Other funding mechanisms need to be identified.

• Interdisciplinary projects where students from different specialities work together in the same project is another possibility worth exploring.

• What are the similarities and differences between the experiences reported in the papers. • Similarities between papers from EPS-MU is clear, because we share a common project (PBL and Work and Study

Learning Approaches (WSLA))

• University Business Cooperation (UBC) and PBL are good opportunities for students to work within real contexts and to develop a variety of interdisciplinary professional skills (no just technological).

• University Business Cooperation (UBC) and PBL are also a good opportunity to enhance innovation, and can help companies identifying new opportunities.

• Involvement of companies, University researchers and teachers in the early stages (ideation, project definition) is essential (agree). Differences on how companies should be involved and during the project (in which stages)

• Differences on which agents constitute the network of collaborators. Companies, universities, students but also public/private agents (administration, entrepreneurship centres, …)

• Most focus on Social challenges (Grand challenges or Horizon 2020 ) to choose the context for the projects

• Some challenges/PBLs are open (free ideas from students). Others are focus on specific targets previously agreed by teachers and companies. Open: difficult to evaluate some skills. Close: skills very clear and known align with Learning Objectives.


• What does each author learned from each other.

• MGEP has worked for some time with PBL and Work and Study Learning Approaches (WSLA) methodologies. The papers corroborate the “expected” benefits of PBL and Work and Study Learning Approaches (WSLA) for students providing evidences (better development of technical and transversal skills, good academic results, ...)

• The papers confirm that for the university these approaches bring advantages on different specialities (Computer science and Electronics, Mechanical, Industrial Organisation and Production Engineering ) Opportunity for the continuous improvement on the definition of competences(skills).

• The papers also confirm that PBL and WSLA bring good opportunities to enhance innovation in companies (help them identifying opportunities and eases the recruitment).

• Reinforces us on the importance of teaching innovation and entrepreneurship skills enabling students on creating their own startups.


• How could we contribute to the UBC practice and research


• Build an incremental Innovation Itinerary approach to apply throughout the learning process (Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees) where students achieve new skills with the objective to be prepared in innovation and entrepreneurship competences.

• Find the right balance between the amount of technical and transversal skills. Both valid. Need to find win-win situations.

• Public/private involvement in competition for innovation is also good practice. Eases dissemination and project impact.

• Competition or contests set an extra motivation for students where they develop entrepreneurship skills.

• Must find funding to carry on with these initiatives and support entrepreneurship during and after university. Find a way to further explore on these initiatives

• An agreement to stablish clearly the intellectual property of the ideas/prototypes is another aspect to work.