Abstract:

Engineers are inventors and innovators who require strong technical knowledge to be successful in their careers. For economic prosperity and the growth of companies, and thus nations, engineers must compete internationally to transform their knowledge and innovations into services and/or products that generate wealth and create new job opportunities. It is increasingly obvious that engineers' technical skills alone are no longer sufficient in a more globalised and competitive professional business context. Consequently engineers should know how to recognise, nurture and develop ideas as well as being capable of developing appropriate strategies to protect them, exploit them and evaluate their economic potential. For this reason engineering students should be encouraged to expand their knowledge beyond their core technical skills into a broad range of disciplines that directly impact the success of their work, such as economics, finance, legal compliance, organisational governance and strategic management of the technology, intellectual property and intellectual capital within their company. There are many challenges to be faced by educators in developing courses to help students learn such skills.

This paper reviews the challenges involved and proposes a framework on how engineering students may be educated and inspired about the business of innovation, and particularly the management of innovation and intellectual assets. It is hoped that this work will be of practical interest to educators considering approaches to overcome similar challenges and become more effective educators.

Keywords:

Technology management, Intellectual property management, Business of innovation.