Educating future product developers in collaborative product development : lessons learned from the european global product realization (EGPR) international course

Changes in the business environment, responses of companies to these changes and the available information and communication technologies (ICT) pose a number of challenges to present and future product developers, as well as to educational institutions. An appropriate response to these challenges is to create a solid basis for strategies to combat stronger competition, since existing educational programs have provided this only to a small extent. In our opinion, the E-GPR course carried out by 5 European universities reflects the tasks of professional product development teams and their work conditions as realistically as possible and will enable students attending the E-GPR course who will soon enter the professional world to later progress along a steeper learning curve. This paper focuses on the role of communication between members of virtual teams and presents experiences gathered during the organization, designing and performance of each year’s courses

The impact of management on creativity and knowledge transfer in an academic virtual enterprise

In a competitive knowledge-based environment the role of creativity in new product development (NPD) has increased. The university as the provider of scientific and technological knowledge has become a key player in NPD, as a supplier of knowledge and human capital and as the physical space for new enterprises. The boundaries between science and technology, university and industry are in flux. This article therefore examines the environmental, strategic and organizational factors influencing innovation in NPD process on an example of an Academic Virtual Enterprise (AVE) that was applied in a design course called European Global Product Realization. AVE represents a creative working environment for students, where they act as real professionals in solving a real-life design problem

A project-based approach to learning : comparative study of two disciplines

To be successful in the competitive workforce markets, graduates nowadays need more than just disciplinary skills and knowledge. The changes in how businesses operate, have brought about the need to develop highly skilled workforce that is equipped with generic skills, such as communication, creativity and problem solving, next to their discipline-relevant knowledge. To provide these sets of skills Universities are engaging in project-based learning with industrial partners. Such modules should provide the development of both sets of skills and thus produce highly employable students. In this paper perceptions of marketing and engineering students related to the projectbased learning outcomes are explored, to determine how they rate the acquisition of relevant employment skills in the studied modules. The findings show, that the students appreciate the project-based approach, specifically with relation to their project management and team-working skills, there is however improvement possible in the discipline-based aspects of their learning

Bespoke innovation : filling the gap between classic and user-centred open innovation

In this paper, we explore the possible boundaries of open innovation by looking at the properties and problems associated with various forms of governance which all have claims to be regarded as open innovation. We look first at some basic forms of open innovation governance before looking at the case of a relatively neglected but increasingly important variant, bespoke or customised innovation. We discuss the implications before finishing with some tentative conclusions

A decade of project based design education - is there a future?

The paper identifies the value of the project-based learning in the aspects of: (1) defined set of skills students perceive as relevant for their transition from theory to practice; (2) identified gap between educational approach to design and design practice. To achieve this, qualitative and quantitative means of data collection have been implemented. Results of project-based learning revealed student lack many communication and teamwork skills despite sufficient technical knowledge. Although academic staff is aware of that, they miss sufficient support from governments and practitioners

The influence of company's strategy on creativity and project results in NPD - case study

There has yet been a lot of discussion on how important creativity is for the process of new product development. In the globalized competitive world of constant inflow of new consumer goods it is extremely important to establish a successful information network of knowledge sources (e.g. academia) and product producers (e.g. companies). The core of this network should become new product developers which are provided with real time flow of accurate and proper information. The developers could be company or academia placed, or either dispersed to some other locations. Since the developers strongly rely on the provided information, it is essential to establish the appropriate level of trust and support between all involved partners. In the year 2010 we had an opportunity to host at this course two companies concurrently, with two different development approaches. One company had a liberal view on a product development process and gave to the developers at the beginning only basic product constraints, while the other one set the product constraints much firmer. According to those constraints the teams took different approaches towards the new product development

Design education in virtual environments

This paper looks at design education in virtual environment

Education of NPD in multi-x environments

Cost competitiveness, energy price, geographic dispersion of human, knowledge and material resources are forcing companies to outsource and spread the tasks among companies and partners all around the world. All these factors as well as emerging complexity of newproducts demand extreme exibility and coordination of all participants in any innovation project. Therefore, multi-x (multi-disciplinary, -cultural, etc) teams, with team members on different geographical locations, work often on the same project. Social, cultural n professional differences ampli ed with a lack of eye-to-eye contact, demand special technical and social skills of all participants. These skills are of the same importance as professional knowledge, which is necessary for project realisation, and include the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), virtual-team work,decision making, team management, con ict management, etc. and especially their combined implementation in real projects. The latter is a skill, which should be taught and practiced on a case to achieve, and any educational institution, which is aiming to train competitive engineers, should implement this kind of work into educational process.To provide students with the knowledge and practice of multi-x team work an international course called European Global Product Realization (E-GPR) was launched in school year 2001–2002. Its main goal is to provide a stimulating learning environment for students in several disciplines (i.e. design, mechanical engineering, PLM, electronics, etc.), where they can get experience in multi-x collaboration in new product development (NPD) and develop several aspects of design competences needed for their future professional practic