New interdisciplinary graduate curriculum spurs innovation
In fall 2015, two master of design students in the Integrative Design program at the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design enrolled in an independent study program with the College of Engineering’s Center for Entrepreneurship (CFE) to research the ways engineers and designers work together in an entrepreneurial environment. The student researchers posed the question: What are the most effective methods for engineers and designers to co-create products with customers that successfully fulfill their needs or solve their problems?
Aditi Bidkar and Elizabeth Vander Veen proposed that increasing connections between the fields, each with its own unique processes and approaches to tackling problems, could create revolutionary business responses. “We’re looking at the classic which-came-first dilemma: the chicken or the egg?” said Bidkar. “The same goes for the creation process—do the designers or the engineers start first? Should products be developed from the outside-in, or inside-out?”
The student team highlighted the need for a shift from traditional linear product development process to a fluid, cyclical model where professionals work together within a shared entrepreneurial space. Bidkar and Vander Veen then invited entrepreneurs, engineers, designers and classmates from other disciplines to participate in a workshop focused on co-creation. During the meet up, teams were formed based on combining diverse talents and perspectives, then tasked to work with a “customer” to create improved storage solutions for a given challenge.
Within the past few years, interest among the university’s STEM- and design-focused graduate students in learning creation, innovation and entrepreneurial skills has grown. The CFE has recognized this interest as an opportunity to leverage the combined strengths of graduate programs across the university, forming partnerships and collaborations with the schools of Information, Public Health, Law, Nursing, Ross School of Business, the Medical School and more to develop unique, innovation-focused academic programs to fill this demand.
Graduate students engaged in these programs gain the ability to cross interdisciplinary boundaries to solve the complex problems of our time, while concurrently learning the tenets of innovation and entrepreneurship within their technical field of study.
In the coming years, the Center for Entrepreneurship and other U-M partners will expand current class offerings to provide both certificate and stand-alone degree alternatives for graduate students.
