Training Engineers for Innovation

Introduction Why Train Engineers in Innovation?

The idea of training engineers in innovation seems obvious, just like training doctors in medicine or teachers in the art of teaching. Indeed, the word “engineer” is forged from the idea of novelty for producing something that does not exist in its natural state and that the human spirit invents thanks to its creative intelligence (ingenium). The engineer is the person who designs, and sometimes produces, innovative artifacts. This is what our engineers make today, whether it is an actual product, machines or abstract systems, models, tools, or even organizational methods, methods, processes, standards or representative forms of uses. The word innovation, as understood within our society, very nicely expresses this idea of producing something new and thus effectively articulates the core of the job of an engineer.

However, the link between engineering and innovation is no longer straightforward, as illustrated by the multiple injunctions addressed to schools to better train engineers in innovation, as well as the work undertaken by the same institutions to develop educational tools dedicated to this objective. There is therefore a gap between the new skills expected of the engineers in terms of innovation and the knowledge and know-how transmitted by the schools to their graduates, which up to now have allowed them to meet society’s expectations. The question is where does this gap come from?

First, the new willingness to train ...