CDIO Syllabus 3.0

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CDIO Syllabus 3.0

  • 1 FUNDAMENTAL KNOWLEDGE AND REASONING
    • 1.1 KNOWLEDGE OF UNDERLYING MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCES
      • 1.1.1 Mathematics (including statistics)
      • 1.1.2 Physics
      • 1.1.3 Chemistry
      • 1.1.4 Biology
    • 1.2 CORE ENGINEERING FUNDAMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
    • 1.3 ADVANCED ENGINEERING FUNDAMENTAL KNOWLEDGE, METHODS AND TOOLS
    • 1.4 KNOWLEDGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
  • 2 PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL SKILLS AND ATTRIBUTES
    • 2.1 ANALYTIC REASONING AND PROBLEM SOLVING
      • 2.1.1 Problem Identification and Formulation
        • Data (including big data) and symptoms
        • Assumptions and sources of bias
        • Issue prioritization in context of overall goals
        • A plan of attack (incorporating model, analytical and numerical solutions, qualitative analysis, experimentation and consideration of uncertainty)
      • 2.1.2 Modeling
        • Assumptions to simplify complex systems and environment
        • Conceptual and qualitative models
        • Quantitative models and simulations
          • Re-usable simulation models using reference architectures
          • Data mining and analytics
          • Limitation of models used in digital tools
        • Diagnostic, descriptive, predictive and prescriptive models​
      • 2.1.3 Estimation and Qualitative Analysis
        • Orders of magnitude, bounds and trends
        • Tests for consistency and errors (limits, units, etc.)
        • The generalization of analytical solutions
      • 2.1.4 Analysis with Uncertainty
        • Incomplete and ambiguous information
        • Probabilistic and statistical models of events and sequences
        • Engineering cost-benefit and risk analysis
        • Decision analysis
        • Margins and reserves
      • 2.1.5 Solution and Recommendation
        • Problem solutions
        • Essential results of solutions and test data
        • Discrepancies in results
        • Summary recommendations
        • Possible improvements in the problem-solving process
    • 2.2 EXPERIMENTATION, INVESTIGATION AND KNOWLEDGE DISCOVERY
      • 2.2.1 Hypothesis Formulation
        • Critical questions to be examined
        • Hypotheses to be tested
        • Controls and control groups
      • 2.2.2 Survey of Literature
        • The literature and media research strategy
        • Information search and identification using library, on-line and database tools
        • Sorting and classifying the primary information
        • The quality and reliability of information
        • The essentials and innovations contained in the information
        • Research questions that are unanswered
        • Citations to references
      • 2.2.3 Experimental Inquiry
        • The experimental concept and strategy
        • The precautions when humans are used in experiments
        • Investigations based on social science methods
        • Experiment construction
        • Experiment planning including design of experiments
        • Test protocols and experimental procedures
        • Experimental measurements
        • Experimental data mining and analysis (classification, regression, correlation etc)
        • Experimental data
          • ​​Quantity, relevance and reliability of big data information
          • Data management
            • ​Building data sets required to train algorithms
            • Storage, management and re-use of research and project data.
          • Experimental data vs. available models
      • 2.2.4 Hypothesis Test and Defense
        • The statistical validity of data
        • The limitations of data employed
        • Analysis and conclusions, supported by data
        • Possible improvements in knowledge discovery process
    • 2.3 SYSTEM THINKING
      • 2.3.1 Thinking Holistically
        • Ecological and planetary systems, and how humans, societies, and artefacts (e.g. technology), are embedded in and rely on these systems
        • A technical (including cyberphysical) system, its function and behavior, and its elements
        • The social, environmental, economic, and technical context of technical systems
        • Human-system integration and interaction
        • The interactions external to the system, and the behavioral impact of the system
        • How systems are embedded within different domains and different scales
        • The system life-cycle from cradle to cradle
        • Transdisciplinary approaches that ensure the technical system and its social, environmental, and economic context is understood from all relevant perspectives
          • Acceptance of the unknown, the unexpected, the unforeseeable
          • Openness, tolerance of ideas and truths different from our own
          • Metaphors as ways to illustrate the complexity of social problems
      • 2.3.2 Emergence and Interactions in Systems
        • The abstractions necessary to define and model the entities or elements of the system
        • The important relationships, interactions and interfaces among elements
        • The functional and behavioral properties (intended and unintended) that emerge from the system, during design and operation
        • Evolutionary adaptation over time
        • Cause-effect chains, cascading effects, feedback loops, delays
        • Tipping points, resilience, adaptation
      • 2.3.3 Prioritization and Focus
        • All factors relevant to the system in the whole
        • The driving factors from among the whole
        • Energy and resource allocations to resolve the driving issues
      • 2.3.4 Trade-offs, Synergies, Judgment and Balance in Resolution
        • Tensions and factors to resolve through trade-offs
        • Solutions that balance various factors, resolve tensions and optimize the system as a whole
        • Flexible vs. optimal solutions over the system lifetime
        • Possible improvements in the system thinking used
    • 2.4 ATTITUDES, THOUGHT AND LEARNING
      • 2.4.1 Initiative and Willingness to Make Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty
        • Initiative taking
        • The needs and opportunities for initiative
        • Leadership in new endeavors, with a bias for appropriate action
        • Decisions, based on the information at hand
        • Development of a course of action
        • The potential benefits and risks of an action or decision
        • The recognition of one’s feelings and desires related to decisions
      • 2.4.2 Perseverance, Urgency and Will to Deliver
        • Sense of responsibility for outcomes
        • Self-confidence, courage and enthusiasm
        • Determination to accomplish objectives
        • The importance of hard work, intensity and attention to detail
        • Definitive action, delivery of results and reporting on actions
      • 2.4.3 Adaptability, Resourcefulness and Flexibility
        • Adaptation to change
        • Leverage opportunities arising from the resources of the situation, group or evolving contexts
        • A readiness, willingness and ability to work independently
        • A willingness to work with others, and to consider and embrace various viewpoints 
        • An acceptance of feedback, criticism and willingness to reflect and respond and deal with associated emotions and feelings
        • The balance between personal and professional life
      • 2.4.4 Creative Thinking
        • Conceptualization and abstraction
        • Synthesis and generalization
        • The process of invention
        • Collaborative, multidisciplinary creative thinking
        • Computational tools for creative thinking
        • The role of creativity in art, science, the humanities and technology
      • 2.4.5 Critical Thinking
        • Purpose and statement of the problem or issue
        • Assumptions
        • Logical arguments (and fallacies) and solutions 
        • Reviewing and supporting evidence, facts and information
        • Points of view and theories
        • Conclusions and implications - including societal and multidisciplinary aspects
        • Reflection on the quality of the thinking
        • Question norms, practices and opinions
        • Reflect on one’s own values, perceptions and action
      • 2.4.6 Self-Awareness, Self-Reflection, Metacognition and Knowledge Integration
        • Self-reflection - One’s skills, interests, strengths and weaknesses
          • Reflect on willingness, effectiveness, flexibility and motivation
          • Recognize one's feelings and desires and ability to deal with them
        • The extent of one’s abilities, and one’s responsibility for self-improvement to overcome important weaknesses
        • The importance of both depth and breadth of knowledge
        • Identification of how effectively and in what way one is thinking 
        • Linking knowledge together and identifying the structure of knowledge
        • One’s own role in the local community and (global) society
        • Wellbeing in a complex and changing world
      • 2.4.7 Learning Agility, Lifelong Learning and Educating
        • The motivation for continued self-education
        • The skills of self-directed learning
        • Learning from experience through reflective practice
        • Flexibility in one’s learning approaches
        • Enabling learning in and from others
          • Sharing best practices and lessons learned
          • Relationships with mentors and mentees
        • Proactively advocating and infusing technology advances
      • 2.4.8 Time and Resource Management
        • Task prioritization
        • The importance and/or urgency of tasks
        • Interdependency of tasks
        • Efficient execution of tasks
    • 2.5 ETHICS, EQUITY AND OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES
      • 2.5.1 Ethics, Integrity and Social Responsibility
        • ​One’s ethical standards, principles, values, and preferences
        • The moral courage to act on principle despite adversity
        • The possibility of conflict between professionally ethical imperatives
        • Artificial Intelligence and Ethics
          • Discern validity, applicability and implications of recommendations from AI
        • Prepared for debates about values, ethics, morality
        • A commitment to service
        • Truthfulness, bias, data manipulation
        • A commitment to help others and society more broadly and to contribute to transformations for sustainability
        • Concepts of justice, fairness, and responsibility
        • Analysis, judgement, and argumentation in ethical issues
        • The precautionary principle
      • 2.5.2 Professional Behavior
        • A professional bearing
        • Professional courtesy
        • International customs and norms of interpersonal contact
        • Professional conduct in social media
      • 2.5.3 Proactive Vision and Intention in Life
        • A personal vision for one’s future
        • Job crafting
        • Aspiration to exercise his/her potentials as a leader
        • One’s portfolio of professional skills
        • Considering one’s contributions to the local community and (global) society
        • Inspiring others
        • Continually evaluate and further motivate one’s actions
      • 2.5.4 Staying Current on the World of Engineering
        • The potential impact of new scientific discoveries on engineering
        • The social, environmental, economic, and technical impact of new technologies and innovations, positive as well as negative
        • A familiarity with current practices/technology in engineering
        • The links between engineering theory and practice
        • The links between engineering and other disciplines, including social sciences and humanities
      • 2.5.5 Equity, Diversity and Inclusiveness
        • A commitment to treat others with equity and justice, including gender, race, ethnicity, religion, etc.
        • Global and intergenerational equity and justice
        • Embracing diversity and inclusiveness in groups and workforce
        • Empathize with others
        • Cultural differences in concepts of time, future, development, and progress
      • 2.5.6 Trust and Loyalty
        • Loyalty to one’s colleagues and team
        • Recognizing and emphasizing the contributions of others
        • Working to make others successful
  • 3 INTERPERSONAL SKILLS: COLLABORATION, TEAMWORK AND COMMUNICATION
    • 3.1 TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
      • 3.1.1 Working in teams
        • Forming teams, assigning roles and responsibilities
        • Setting goals and objectives, planning, scheduling the work
        • Setting norms (ground rules, respect and diversity, confidentiality, accountability)
        • Coordination and management of team process: meetings - physical and distance; communication - information, listening, feedback; decision-making; documentation and reporting; representing the team
        • Team membership and leadership (delegating, facilitating, directing, supporting, coaching)
        • Handling diverse perspectives and conflicts
        • Creativity, empowerment and motivation (incentives, recognition)
        • Strategies for assessment and reflection to develop processes, team and members
      • 3.1.2 Multi-perspective Collaboration
        • Facilitation of diversity and inclusiveness in group processes across cultures, social groups and communities
        • Using knowledge and methods from other disciplines outside engineering in addressing problems
        • Multidisciplinary vs. cross-disciplinarity vs. interdisciplinary vs. transdisciplinary
      • 3.1.3 Stakeholder Engagement
        • Co-creation and stakeholder engagement techniques
        • Incorporation of diverse, underrepresented, and conflicting stakeholders’ input
        • Understand the influence of values on stakeholder actions and activities
      • 3.1.4 Establishing Diverse Connections and Networking
        • Appreciating those with different skills, cultures or experiences
        • Engaging and connecting with diverse individuals
        • Building extended social networks, in person and digital
        • Activating and using networks to achieve goals
    • 3.2 COMMUNICATIONS
      • 3.2.1 Communications Strategy
        • The communication situation
        • Communications objectives
        • The needs and character of the audience
        • The communication context
        • The appropriate combination of media
        • A communication style (proposing, reviewing, collaborating, documenting, teaching)
        • The content and organization
      • 3.2.2 Communications Structure
        • Logical, persuasive arguments
        • The appropriate structure and relationship amongst ideas
        • Relevant, credible, accurate supporting evidence
        • Conciseness, crispness, precision and clarity of language
        • Rhetorical factors (e.g. audience bias)
        • Cross-disciplinary cross-cultural and international communications
      • 3.2.3 Written Communication
        • Writing with coherence and flow
        • Writing with correct spelling, punctuation and grammar
        • Formatting the document
        • Technical writing
        • Various written styles (informal, formal memos, reports, resume, etc.)
        • Reflective writing (writing to learn)
      • 3.2.4 Digital Communication
        • Preparing multimedia presentations (video, immersive technologies)
        • The norms associated with the use of social media, e-mail, and online meetings 
      • 3.2.5 Graphical Communications
        • Sketching and drawing
        • Construction of tables, graphs, charts, data visualization
        • Formal technical drawings and renderings
        • Use of digital tools for graphical communication
      • 3.2.6 Oral Presentation
        • Preparing presentations and supporting media with appropriate language, style, timing and flow
        • Appropriate nonverbal communications (gestures, eye contact, poise)
        • Answering questions effectively
        • Pitching
      • 3.2.7 Inquiry, Listening and Dialog
        • Listening carefully to others, with the intention to understand
        • Asking thoughtful questions of others
        • Processing diverse points of view
        • Constructive dialog
        • Recognizing ideas that may be better than your own
        • Body language and the silent voice
      • 3.2.8 Negotiation, Compromise and Conflict Resolution
        • Identifying potential disagreements, tensions or conflicts
        • Negotiation to find acceptable solutions
        • Reaching agreement without compromising fundamental principles
        • Diffusing conflicts
        • Identify value differences and trade-offs, e.g., among different courses of actions
      • 3.2.9 Advocacy
        • Clearly explaining one’s point of view
        • Explaining how one reached an interpretation or conclusion
        • Assessing how well you are understood
        • Adjusting approach to advocacy on audience characteristics
    • 3.3 COMMUNICATIONS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES
      • 3.3.1 Communications in English
      • 3.3.2 Communications in Languages of Regional Commerce and Industry
      • 3.3.3 Communications in Other Languages
  • 4 CONCEIVING, DESIGNING, IMPLEMENTING AND OPERATING SYSTEMS IN THE ENTERPRISE, SOCIETAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT – THE INNOVATION PROCESS
    • 4.1 EXTERNAL, SOCIETAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT
      • 4.1.1 Roles and Responsibility of Engineers
        • The goals and roles of the engineering profession
        • The responsibilities of engineers to society and a sustainable future
        • One’s own role and impact as a responsible engineer in promoting a sustainable society
      • 4.1.2 The Impact of Engineering on Society and the Environment
        • The impact of engineering on the environmental, social, knowledge and economic systems in modern culture
        • Using interdisciplinary knowledge and skills to understand and address complex problems
        • Assessment of sustainability effects/impacts
        • Measures and strategies for mitigating/eliminating negative impacts and promoting/enhancing positive impacts
      • 4.1.3 Society’s Regulation of Engineering
        • The role of society and its agents to regulate engineering
        • The way in which legal and political systems regulate and influence engineering
        • How professional societies license and set standards
        • How intellectual property is created, utilized and defended
        • Protection of personal data and information (GDPR etc)
      • 4.1.4 The Historical and Cultural Context
        • The diverse nature and history of human societies as well as their literary, philosophical and artistic traditions
        • The history of technological innovation and how society and technology have co-evolved
        • Learning from historical and cultural contexts about sustainability issues and potential solutions
      • 4.1.5 Contemporary Issues and Values [3j]
        • The important contemporary political, social, legal and environmental issues and values
        • The processes by which contemporary values are set, and one’s role in these processes
        • The mechanisms for expansion and diffusion of knowledge
        • Definitions and principles of sustainability and sustainable development
      • 4.1.6 Visions of the Future
        • Concepts about the future, including long-term, short-term; possible, probable, plausible and desirable
        • Scenario construction, forecasting, backcasting and visioning
        • Visions for a sustainable future for society and for one’s profession
      • 4.1.7 Developing a Global and International Perspective
        • The internationalization of human activity
        • The similarities and differences in the political, social, economic, business and technical norms of various cultures
        • International and intergovernmental agreements and alliances
        • Unofficial global communities and network
        • Postcolonialism
        • Consequences of technical systems in a global perspective
        • One’s own role and possibilities to have a global impact
    • 4.2 ENTERPRISE AND BUSINESS CONTEXT
      • 4.2.1 Appreciating Different Enterprise Cultures
        • The differences in process, culture, and metrics of success in various enterprise cultures:
          • Corporate vs. academic vs. governmental vs. non-profit/NGO
          • Market vs. policy driven vs. value driven
          • Large vs. small
          • Centralized vs. distributed
          • Research and development vs. operations
          • Mature vs. growth phase vs. entrepreneurial
          • Longer vs. faster development cycles
          • With vs. without the participation of organized labor
        • Proactive vs. reactive in a transformation towards a sustainable future
      • 4.2.2 Enterprise Stakeholders, Strategy and Goals
        • The stakeholders and beneficiaries of an enterprise (owners, employees, customers, etc.)
        • People in other contexts, future generations, and other species, as stakeholders
        • Obligations to stakeholders
        • The mission, scope and goals of the enterprise
        • Enterprise strategy and resource allocation
        • An enterprise’s core competence and markets
        • Key alliances and supplier relations
      • 4.2.3 Technical Entrepreneurship
        • Entrepreneurial opportunities that can be addressed by technology
        • Technologies that can create new products, systems, and services that contribute to sustainable development
        • Commercial value of data and information
        • Entrepreneurial finance and organization
      • 4.2.4 Working in Organizations
        • The function of management
        • Various roles and responsibilities in an organization
        • The roles of functional and program organizations
        • Working effectively within hierarchy and organizations
        • Change, dynamics and evolution in organizations
      • 4.2.5 Working in International Organizations
        • Culture and tradition of enterprise as a reflection of national culture
        • Equivalence of qualifications and degrees
        • Governmental regulation of international work
      • 4.2.6 New Technology Development and Assessment
        • The research and technology development process
        • Identifying and assessing emerging technologies that 

          might disrupt the business rules, processes, and models, 

          can contribute to sustainable development

          can give rise to unintended and unwanted consequences
        • Technology development roadmaps
        • Intellectual property regimes and patents
        • Open innovation
      • 4.2.7 Engineering Project Finance and Economics
        • Financial and managerial goals and metrics
        • Project finance – investments, return, timing
        • Financial planning and control
        • Impact of projects on enterprise finance, income and cash
    • 4.3 CONCEIVING, SYSTEM ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT
      • 4.3.1 Understanding Societal and Planetary Goals and Constraints
        • Needs vs. wants with respect to justice and sufficiency
        • Conditions for operating within planetary boundaries and social foundations for human societies
        • Power, politics, authority in strategy building and change
        • Theories and dynamics of change (e.g., behaviour change, societal transitions)
        • Barriers including obstacles, inertia, path dependencies
      • 4.3.2 Understanding Needs and Setting Goals
        • Needs and opportunities
        • Customer needs, and those of the market
          • ​​Capture user experiences and use case scenarios
        • Opportunities that derive from new technology or latent needs
        • Environmental needs
        • Factors that set the context of the system goals
          • Enterprise goals, strategies, capabilities and alliances
          • Competitors and benchmarking information
          • Ethical, social, environmental, legal and regulatory influences
          • The probability of change in the factors that influence the system, its goals and resources available
        • System goals and requirements
          • The language/format of goals and requirements
          • Initial target goals (based on needs, opportunities and other influences)
          • System performance metrics
          • Requirement completeness and consistency
          • Allocation of margins, responding to change and handling unknown or unanticipated requirements during the lifecycle of a design
      • 4.3.3 Defining Function, Concept and Architecture
        • Necessary system functions (and behavioral specifications)
        • System concepts
        • Incorporation of the appropriate level of technology
        • Trade-offs among and recombination of concepts
        • High-level architectural form and structure
        • The decomposition of form into elements, assignment of function to elements, and definition of interfaces
      • 4.3.4 System Engineering, Modeling and Interfaces
        • Appropriate models of technical performance and other attributes
        • Consideration of implementation and operations
        • Life cycle value and costs (design, implementation, operations, opportunity, etc.)
        • Trade-offs among various goals, function, concept and structure and iteration until convergence
        • 'Trusted' system design (addressing aspects of cyber security, data privacy, consumer understanding, transparency)
        • System designs that are non-deterministic, that continue to learn and modify themselves during operation (e.g., critical decisions that are allocated to autonomous vehicles).
        • Plans for interface management
      • 4.3.5 Development Project Management
        • Waterfall, agile and scrum project management models
        • Project control for cost, performance and schedule
        • Appropriate transition points and reviews
        • Configuration management and documentation
        • Performance compared to baseline
        • Earned value recognition
        • The estimation and allocation of resources
        • Risks and alternatives
        • Possible development process improvements
      • 4.3.6 Product information and knowledge management
        • Capturing data and crafting a design in a digital environment.
        • Model-based systems engineering, using digital representations of the system, simulations, and immersive technologies
        • Digital SE as part of digital end-to-end business
        • Modeling, visualization and digital representation of system designs and end-to-end solutions
        • Digital twins
        • Knowledge sharing; data stewardship, open data sets
    • 4.4 DESIGNING
      • 4.4.1 The Design Process
        • Requirements for each element or component derived from system level goals and requirements
        • Alternatives in design
        • The initial design
        • Life cycle consideration and responsibility in design (economic, social, environmental)
        • Experimental prototypes and test articles in design development
        • Appropriate optimization in the presence of constraints
        • Iteration until convergence
        • The final design
        • Accommodation of changing requirements
        • Fast generation of multiple design options and evaluating them instantly in a virtual environment ('Optioneering')

                      What-if scenario analysis
      • 4.4.2 The Design Process Phasing and Approaches
        • The activities in the phases of system design (e.g. conceptual, preliminary and detailed design)
        • Process models appropriate for particular development projects (agile, waterfall, spiral, concurrent, set-based design, etc.)
        • The process for single, platform and derivative products
      • 4.4.3 Utilization of Knowledge in Design
        • Technical and scientific knowledge
        • Modes of thought (problem solving, inquiry, system thinking, creative and critical thinking)
        • Prior work in the field, standardization and reuse of designs (including reverse engineering and refactoring, redesign)
        • Design knowledge capture
      • 4.4.4 Disciplinary Design
        • Appropriate techniques, digital tools and processes 
        • Design tool calibration and validation
        • Quantitative analysis of alternatives
        • Modeling, simulation, visualization and test
        • Analytical refinement of the design
      • 4.4.5 Multidisciplinary Design
        • Interactions between disciplines
        • Dissimilar conventions and assumptions
        • Differences in the maturity of disciplinary models
        • Multidisciplinary design environments (physical and digital)
      • 4.4.6 Design for Performance, Sustainability, Safety, Aesthetics, Operability and Other Objectives
        • Design for:
          • Performance, quality, robustness, life cycle cost and value
          • Sustainability:
            • Life cycle perspective for a product or service
            • Circular economy
            • Systems perspective including environmental, social and economic aspects
            • Efficient and reduced use of energy, materials and land
            • Reduce/eliminate environmental impact
            • Reusability, remanufacturing, recycling, retirement
          • Safety and security 
          • Aesthetics
          • Implementation, verification, test
          • Operations
            • Human factors, interaction and supervision
            • Delivery channels and service models (e.g. cloud, software-as-a-service, product-service system …)
          • Reliability, availability, maintainability, dependability, failure mode and effects analysis
          • Evolution, product improvement
    • 4.5 IMPLEMENTING
      • 4.5.1 Designing a Sustainable Implementation Process
        • The goals and metrics for implementation performance, cost and quality
        • The implementation system design:
          • Task allocation and cell/unit layout
          • Workflow
          • Considerations for human user/operators
        • Cyberphysical factory design​
        • Consideration of sustainability
      • 4.5.2 Hardware Manufacturing Process
        • The manufacturing of parts
        • The assembly of parts into larger constructs
        • Tolerances, variability, key characteristics and statistical process control
      • 4.5.3 Software Implementing Process
        • The break down of high-level components into module designs (including algorithms and data structures)
        • Algorithms (data structures, control flow, data flow)
        • The programming language and paradigms
        • The low-level design (coding)
        • The system build
      • 4.5.4 Hardware Software Integration
        • The integration of software in electronic hardware (size of processor, communications, etc.)
        • The integration of software with sensor, actuators and mechanical hardware
        • Hardware/software function and safety
        • Cyberphysical systems
      • 4.5.5 Test, Verification, Validation and Certification
        • Test and analysis procedures (hardware vs. software, acceptance vs. qualification)
        • The verification of performance to system requirements
        • The validation of performance to customer needs
        • The validation of system design behavior, performance and safety of system designs with “learned” behaviors.
        • The certification to standards
      • 4.5.6 Implementation Management
        • The organization and structure for implementation
        • Sourcing and partnering
        • Supply chains and logistics
        • Control of implementation cost, performance and schedule
        • Quality assurance
        • Human health and safety
        • Environmental security
        • Possible implementation process improvements
    • 4.6 OPERATING
      • 4.6.1 Designing and Optimizing Sustainable and Safe Operations
        • The goals and metrics for operational performance, cost and value
        • Sustainable operations
        • Safe and secure operations
        • Operations process architecture and development
        • Operations (and mission) analysis and modeling
      • 4.6.2 Training and Operations
        • Training for professional operations:
        • Simulation
        • Instruction and programs
        • Procedures
        • Education for consumer operation
        • Operations processes
        • Operations process interactions
      • 4.6.3 Supporting the System Life Cycle
        • Maintenance and logistics
        • Life cycle performance and reliability
        • Life cycle value and costs (economic, social, environmental)
        • Feedback to facilitate system improvement
        • Continuous development
      • 4.6.4 System Improvement and Evolution
        • Pre-planned product improvement
        • Improvements based on needs observed in operation
        • Evolutionary system upgrades
        • Contingency improvements/solutions resulting from operational necessity
      • 4.6.5 Disposal, End-of-Life, and Circularity
        • The end of useful life
        • Disposal options
        • Residual value at life-end
        • Waste hierarchy (reduce, reuse, repair, recycle, recover, disposal)
        • Environmental and social considerations and constraints for disposal
        • Circularity
      • 4.6.6 Operations Management
        • The organization and structure for operations
        • Partnerships and alliances
        • Control of operations cost, performance and scheduling
        • Quality and safety assurance
        • Possible operations process improvements
        • Life cycle management
        • Human health and safety
        • Environmental security

The Extended CDIO Syllabus:

Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Research

These expansions of the core CDIO Syllabus are provided as a resource for programs that seek to respond to stakeholder expressed needs in the areas of Engineering Leadership and Entrepreneurship. Some topics, such as Engineering Research may also be expected in master’s degree CDIO programs.

  • 5.1 LEADING ENGINEERING ENDEAVORS
    Engineering Leadership builds on factors already included above, including:

    Personal skills and attributes including topics in Attitudes, Thought and Learning (2.4), and in Ethics, Equity and Other Responsibilities (2.5)

    Interpersonal skills including topics in Teamwork and Collaboration (3.1), Communications (3.2) and potentially Communications in Foreign Languages (3.3)

    Conceiving, designing, implementing and operating systems skills, including topics in External , Societal and Environmental Context (4.1), Enterprise and Business Context (4.2) Conceiving, Systems Engineering and Management (4.3) and System Thinking (2.3).

    •  
      • 5.1.1 Identifying the Issue, Problem or Paradox Paradox (which builds on Understanding Needs and Setting Goals 4.3.2)
        • Synthesizing the understanding of needs or opportunities (that relate to technical systems)
        • Clarifying the central issues
        • Framing the problem to be solved
        • Identifying the underlying paradox to be examined
      • 5.1.2 Thinking Creatively and Communicating Possibilities Possibilities (which builds on and expands Creative Thinking 2.4.4)
        • How to create new ideas and approaches
        • New visions of technical systems that meet the needs of customers and society
        • Communicating visions for products and enterprises
        • Compelling visions for the future
      • 5.1.3 Defining the Solution (which builds on and expands Understanding Needs and Setting Goals 4.3.2)
        • The vision for the engineering solution
        • Achievable goals for qual i ty performance, budget and schedule
        • Consideration of customer and beneficiary
        • Consideration of technology options
        • Consideration of regulatory, political and competitive forces
      • 5.1.4 Creating New Solution Concepts  (which builds on and expands 4.3.2 and 4.3.3)
        • Setting requirements and specifications
        • The high-level concept for the solution
        • Architecture and interfaces
        • Alignment with other projects of the enterprise
        • Alignment with enterprise strategy, resources and infrastructure
      • 5.1.5 Building and Leading an Organization and Extended Organization Organization (which builds on 4.2.4 and 4.2.5)
        • Recruiting key team members with complementary skills
        • Start-up of team processes, and technical interchange
        • Defining roles, responsibilities and incentives
        • Leading group decision-making
        • Assessing group progress and performance
        • Building the competence of others and succession
        • Partnering with external competence
        • Continuous self-evaluation in relation to collaboration, teamwork and leadership
        • Ability to show leadership that recognizes feelings and varying desires
      • 5.1.6 Planning and Managing a Project to Completion
        • Plans of action and alternatives to deliver completed projects on time
        • Deviation from plan, and re-planning
        • Managing human, time, financial and technical resources to meet plan
        • Program risk, configuration and documentation
        • Program economics and the impact of decisions on them
        • Interfaces to program and project portfolio management in large-scale environments
        • Continually evaluate and further motivate one’s actions in managing a project and its members and stakeholders
      • 5.1.7 Exercising Project/Solution Judgment and Critical Reasoning Reasoning (which builds on 2.3.4, 2.4.4, 2.4.5, 2.5.3) 
        • Making complex technical decisions with uncertain and incomplete information
        • Questioning and critical ly evaluating the decisions of others
        • Corroborating inputs from several sources
        • Evaluating evidence and identifying the val idi ty of key assumptions
        • Understanding alternatives that are proposed by others
        • Judging the expected evolution of al l solutions in the future
      • 5.1.8 Innovation – the Conception, Design and Introduction of New Goods and Services
        • From research to readiness for industrial application and commercialization
        • Designing and introducing new goods and services to the marketplace
        • Designing solutions to meet customer and societal needs
        • Designing solutions with the appropriate balance of new and existing technology
        • Robust, flexible and adaptable products
        • Consideration of current and future competition
        • Validating the effectiveness of the solution
      • 5.1.9 Invention – the Development of New Devices, Materials or Processes that Enable New Goods and Services
        • Science and technology basis and options
        • Imagining possibilities
        • Inventing a practical device or process that enables a new product or solution
        • Adherence to intellectual property regimes
      • 5.1.10 Implementation and Operation – the Creation and Operation of the Goods and Services that will Deliver Value
        • Leading implementing and operating
        • Importance of quality
        • Safe operations
        • Operations to deliver value to the customer and society
  • 5.2 ENGINEERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP

    Engineering Entrepreneurship includes by reference all of the aspects of Societal and Enterprise Context (4.1 and 4.2), all of the skills of Conceiving, Designing, Implementing and Operating (4.3 – 4.6) and all of the elements of Engineering Leadership (5.1).

    • 5.2.1 Company Founding, Formulation, Leadership and Organization
      • Creating the corporate entity and financial infrastructure
      • Team of supporting partners (bank, lawyer, accounting, etc.)
      • Consideration of local labor law and practices
      • The founding leadership team
      • The initial organization
      • The board of the company
      • Advisors to the company
    • 5.2.2 Business Plan Development
      • A need in the world that you will fill
      • A technology that can become a product
      • A team that can develop the product
      • Plan for development
      • Uses of capital
      • Liquidity strategy
    • 5.2.3 Company Capitalization and Finances
      • Capital needed, and timing of need (to reach next major milestone)
      • Investors as sources of capital
      • Alternative sources of capital (government, etc.)
      • Structure of investment (terms, price, etc.)
      • Financial analysis for investors
      • Management of finances
      • Expenditures against intermediate milestones of progress
    • 5.2.4 Innovative Product Marketing
      • Size of potential market
      • Competitive analyses
      • Penetration of market
      • Product positioning
      • Relationships with customers
      • Product pricing
      • Sales initiation
      • Distribution to customers
    • 5.2.5 Conceiving Products and Services around New Technologies
      • New technologies available
      • Assessing the readiness of technology
      • Assessing the ability of your enterprise to innovate based on the technology
      • Assessing the product impact of the technology
        • Incremental, architectural, radical/disruptive
      • Accessing the technologies though partnerships, licenses, etc.
      • A team to productize the technology
    • 5.2.6 The Innovation System, Networks, Infrastructure and Services
      • Relationships for enterprise success
      • Mentoring of the enterprise leadership
      • Supporting financial services
      • Investor networks
      • Suppliers
    • 5.2.7 Building the Team and Initiating Engineering Processes (conceiving, designing, implementing and operating)
      • Hiring the right skill mix
      • Technical process startup
      • Building an engineering culture
      • Establishing enterprise processes
    • 5.2.8 Managing Intellectual Property
      • IP landscape for your product or technology
      • IP strategy – offensive and defensive
      • Filing patents and provisional patents
      • IP legal support
      • Entrepreneurial opportunities that can be addressed by technology
      • Technologies that can create new products and systems
      • Entrepreneurial finance and organization​
  • 5.3 RESEARCH

    Research builds on factors already included above, including topics in:

    ●    Personal and professional skills and attributes, including topics in Attitudes, Thought and Learning (2.4), and in Ethics, Equity and Other Responsibilities (2.5)

    ●    Interpersonal skills, including topics in Teamwork and Collaboration (3.1), Communication (3.2) and potentially Communications in Foreign Languages (3.3)

    ●    Conceiving, designing, implementing and operating systems skills, including topics in Societal and Environmental Context (4.1), Enterprise and Business Context (4.2) Conceiving, Systems Engineering and Management (4.3) and System Thinking (2.3)

    • 5.3.1 Identification of needs, structuring and planning of research projects 
      • Identifying relevant research problems
      • Reviewing and synthesizing relevant previous work
      • Specifying the aims with respect to sustainability and various stakeholders' needs
      • Selecting research approach and methodology
      • Designing and structuring the project
    • 5.3.2 Execution of research
      • Performing empirical and theoretical work
      • Documenting research process and findings
      • Analyzing results
      • Drawing appropriate conclusions, acknowledging limitations
    • 5.3.3 Presentation and evaluation of research
      • Reporting the work in a coherent manuscript
      • Explaining what makes the work trustworthy and accurate
      • Relating the work with previous work
      • Acknowledging the work of others
      • Discussing implications of the work
    • 5.3.4 Research ethics
      • Safeguarding the quality of the research
      • Honesty in reporting the research
      • Accountability for research from idea to publication
      • Respect for colleagues, research participants, society and environmen
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