SEAS and HBS are pleased to host four leaders in Innovation and Entrepreneurship to speak about their perspectives and experiences. The series of four seminars will be held in SEC 6.301+6.302 and will be followed by an informal boxed lunch with an opportunity to chat with the speaker. Please RSVP if you intend to attend the after-seminar lunch session.

The role of engineers in innovation has changed radically in recent years. Engineers that were once constrained to designing, testing, and manufacturing products are now creating and strategically leading ventures using their quantitative skills. Engineering education, however, has struggled to keep pace.

Capstone design courses were among the first to introduce principles of innovation and entrepreneurship. Their pedagogical and practical value have led to the growth of design courses through all levels of education, from first-year introductory courses to graduate-level interdisciplinary courses. However, as the act of innovation extends far upstream and downstream of the design process, engineering educators are expanding their approach to teach a more holistic view of innovation.

In this discussion, we will examine ways in which upstream topics (ethnography, equity and inclusion, systems engineering, and data-driven strategy) and downstream topics (design for manufacturing, effective project management, supply chain, business model innovation) have been integrated into engineering education to teach innovation. Successful and unsuccessful attempts to implement these topics will be shared. Lastly, we will discuss the unique skills that engineers can bring to ventures as strategic leaders who examine where, how, and for whom to innovate.