This course provides engineering students with a detailed and practical understanding of applicable business processes, through lecture material and a significant interdisciplinary group project, sufficient to allow them to interact well with, or integrate into, industrial management teams. It also provides basic tools to help engineers develop business opportunities in their future careers.

In the first semester, students will attend a series of lectures delivered by academics and industry experts, complemented by VLE material aimed at familiarising students with the basics of business processes. Project work will involve students presenting their own business concepts to a simulated Industrial Board and interacting with mentors and collaborating in interdisciplinary teams to refine and develop these industrial ventures.

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10% individual VLE based quiz on course concepts

15% group presentation (pitching business ideas to Board)

30% group presentation with individual ratings (presenting final solutions to Board)

35% group report with individual grades dependent on peer review

10% individual reflective report

It is not possible to offer reassessment in group project work in this course. Students failing to complete the group project work, without good cause, will receive a Credit Refused (CR) grade and will be required to re-attend the course the following year.

The aim of this course is to develop student confidence in basic business processes with an emphasis on formulating practical business plans and managing and scheduling project work. This is in order to allow students to effectively collaborate in engineering project teams, and better understand the realistic constraints placed upon such teams: technical, financial, environmental, societal.

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

* generate innovative solutions to complex engineering and societal problems and evaluate their feasibility and potential impact using established idea generation and evaluation methods;

* describe the organisational structure of an engineering business and analyse how it operates;

* apply principles of project planning and scheduling to develop realistic project timelines and strategies, ensuring an organised progression of engineering ideas from concept to execution;

* formulate a business plan proposal and justify its technical and financial feasibility based on market demands, risks and customer needs;

* synthesise feedback from discussions with mentors and peer reviews, using it to refine and enhance a business strategy and approach, ensuring alignment with market needs;

* evaluate the environmental and societal impact of a proposed solution (including the entire life-cycle of the project outputs) and minimise adverse impacts

Students must attend at least 80% of timetabled meetings with their mentor, take part in all presentations, contribute to all team reports and must maintain a log book. Students who make insufficient practical contribution to the effort of the team will be refused credit.