Product Innovation Engineering Program: Utilizing Student Ideas in Higher Education

This article introduces the Product Innovation Engineering Program, PIEp, and in particular the activity field “PIEp Education”. The purpose of PIEp Education is to create a systematic shift of higher education toward innovation and entrepreneurship, in the areas of product innovation, complex products and medical technology. PIEp consists initially of five universities/organizations in Sweden together with an international network, with the ambition of increasing the number of partners nationally and internationally. The ambitions of PIEp Education are in line with the intentions of the CDIO initiative, educating engineers with appropriate abilities and push for an educational reform that focuses on synthesis, creativity and industrial relevance.

In PIEp Education participating universities are offering activities and projects for students on all levels as well as teachers and coaches. This article presents the structure of PIEp Education together with a few examples of activities, programs and workshops.