Program Overview

Master of Engineering (Innovation by Design)

The Master of Engineering (Innovation by Design) programme uses design to span across the disciplines of engineering, innovation, business, entrepreneurship, management, and industrial design. This programme aims to foster expedited communication across fields, building leaders of global product-service-systems that can work effectively and efficiently across the full value chain.

Programme Overview

The programme is imbued with a unique pedagogy and a vibrant design and hands-on culture within and outside the classroom, supported by the 4-Dimensional Big-Design (4D Big-D) framework. It brings its future graduates to a level in which they can collaborate effectively with graduates and professionals.

Programme Structure

• The programme is available in both full-time (12 – 18 months) and part-time (24 – 36 months) modes.
• Core classes will be held during weekday evenings.

Programme Naming

The Innovation by Design (IbD) programme assumes a designation that is novel, even internationally. It is a horizontal programme, attracting students to a paradigm in which products, systems, and services are developed concurrently with a design-centric mindset and across every discipline, domain, and sector.

Uniqueness

There is currently no Master of Engineering programme in Singapore that aims to promote and advance design innovation and design thinking in an integrated multi-disciplinary and holistic design education approach across several fields of knowledge. This programme will bridge the gap across multiple engineering programmes, architecture, social sciences, and many other disciplines, giving students tools, skills, and mindsets to work effectively and efficiently together under the umbrella of design.

Immersive Experience

The programme has immersion at its core, where prospective students will be exposed to three one-to-two week, off-class experiences:

• A design accelerator at the beginning of the programme.
• A supply chain and design reality check trip overseas (at a university or company where design thinking is taught/practiced).
• An entrepreneurship accelerator experience at the end of year 1. These experiences will foster a student's capacity to innovate, based on well-rounded and grounded design innovation and design thinking mindsets.

Stepping Stone

The IbD programme is the stepping stone that is currently missing from the Singapore higher education landscape in that it provides an entry point to both research and professional advancement in the field of design for graduates who may or may not have a design background.

Coursework

Candidates will take a research-based programme with deep knowledge in design innovation and design thinking transmitted via coursework, complemented with the hands-on and active-learning approach that is central to SUTD's DNA. A combination of coursework and hands-on experience with innovation projects and research is the most efficient way of imparting knowledge that lasts.

Research

The research carried out within the IbD programme will be industry-ready, and will in most situations derive its need from industry and social needs. Numerous examples exist from the SUTD-MIT International Design Centre where industry-sponsored projects have led to scientific publications in leading journals and conferences within the span of months, and outcomes that have led to translation to industry, markets, and start-up companies. IbD research will be tailored to individuals and teams of students, can be directly connected to sponsoring industry and social enterprises, and will be based on innovation projects completed by the students. All students will likewise have the ability to live and immerse themselves in the various SUTD research centres and labs as they embark on their research thrusts.