Teaching Design Innovation in Product Engineering Classes

Innovation is a broadly defined term and anything from an incremental improvement to a revolutionary new design can be classified as innovative. In product engineering classes we commonly will have one or more team projects where the team designs a new product, and the expectation is that the design will be innovative. The instructor faces two challenges (i) Providing specific product-focused guidance to the team so that they can make timely progress, and (ii) Catalyzing the innovation thought process in the team process. A common trap is that the application is novel (e.g., a breakthrough bio-medical device) but the design itself is not. This presentation highlights methods that have been successfully used to promote design innovation in course team projects. Three methods that can easily be integrated into the classroom are illustrated: (i) Structured definitions of innovation with validated examples, (ii) Guided ideation and innovation using design analysis tools, and (iii) Innovative redesign of existing products that are readily available in the market.