UCD Paper

International conference on engineering and product design education

12-13 September 2019, Department of Design, Manufacturing and Engineering Management, University of Strathclyde, united kingdom

The Making of Student Inventors: The design and practice of innovation focusssed studios

Soumitri Varadarajan¹, Brittney Wheeler², Swathi Madike³, Emma Gerard⁴ and Helen McLean⁵

^1-5RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Keywords: Design for Invention, Student Inventors, Provisional Patents,

ABSTRACT

Often at the centre of innovation and new product development is the idea of an invention. Invention however is not a clear and precise focus within design education. Furthermore, the first year in design education tends to continue a traditional agenda of focussing upon developing an artistic foundation. In a sharp departure from conventional practices the “Making Students Inventors” project focuses upon building an ecology of invention within the student population in a design program. The paper describes the studio teaching project with first-year undergraduate students that was specifically designed to produce outcomes that would be eligible for a patent. Key aspects of the studio methodology focussed upon skill development, methods for inventing, and ways of delivering invention outcomes. A process called “challenge-setting” was key to this design, for exposing students to the process of inventing new devices and also for developing a risk-taking ability in the students. Students were required to work in multi-skilled groups, that were carefully and deliberately formed through a speed-dating process, so that they were able to pool skills to collaboratively produce three dimensional visual realisations. The stages of the student projects comprised three-dimensional visualization, the development of an idea that addresses a need and a quick modelling process of ‘soft prototyping’. The soft prototyping used easy to manipulate materials that enable experimenting with working parts and componentry for new mechanisms. The students’ outcomes were evaluated for their potential to be patented. Students who wished to take their inventions forward were connected to industry mentors who helped navigate the stages of patent searching and the filing of provisional patents. The paper describes the foundational principles of the program, describes examples of student work and discusses the impacts the program aims to deliver in the five years that it will be in existence.