This module continues directly from where you left off in term 1. You have secured investment, now it’s time to deliver. You and your team have 11 weeks to develop your concept into a physical prototype, capable of being mass produced and delivered to the market and or being presented for further investment. You will leverage all of your previous experience in analysis, design and prototype development to iterate your way towards a viable product that satisfies your initial objective. Your output at the end of this stage of the project will depend on the nature of your project but will be discussed and agreed with the module convenor at the outset.

In parallel with your product development, you and your team will need to develop a brand and customer/investor awareness strategy. One of the most effective ways to build an audience is to ‘develop in public’. You are encouraged to publicly document your progress as part of a strategy to build an audience of potential customers (for mass market consumer products) and/or future investors (for larger scale enterprise products/projects).

At the end of your 11 week cycle of rapid iterative development, there will be a project presentation and evaluation where you and your team will reflect on progress to date, the commercial viability of your project and what next steps would be taken if further funding was obtained.

Every student taking this module is encouraged not to just think about this as a university project but
to view it as an opportunity to develop a solution to a real problem with commercial opportunity. This
module aims to highlight the real world value you can deliver as an engineer.

Discipline and module intended learning outcomes: 

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

ILO #1 Develop a strategy to brand and raise customer awareness for a project

ILO #2 use technical engineering knowledge and analysis and modelling skills to develop a detailed design that meets set requirements

ILO #3 Perform iterative product development utilising prototyping and user testing

ILO #4 Evaluate the effectiveness of your product/solution and identify appropriate courses of action for improvement

ILO #5 Identify appropriate manufacturing processes for production at scale

ILO #6 Develop and manage a multi-strand programme of design and development

ILO #7 Work effectively in a group, demonstrating good team working and communication skills

ILO #8 Verbally present information in a confident and professional manner

ILO #9 Condense a large amount of technical information into a compelling and concise report form

ILO #10 Use data to make evidence-based decisions and logical arguments

ILO #11 Impartially evaluate the outcome of a programme of work in terms of budget, schedule, and quality/effectiveness

This project does not have a set taught syllabus. However activities you can expect to be
engaged with include:

• Developing a brand strategy and implementing a customer/investor awareness campaign
• with the aim of continually building interest and anticipation of a product launch/funding
• round
• Technical development of your proposed solution
• Rapid iterative prototype development to refine your solution
• Exploring manufacturing/construction techniques to determine what is the most efficient way
• to produce at scale
• User testing/customer feedback
• Final project presentation and evaluation addresssing:

1. How has the product/solution evolved and been influenced by prototyping and user
2. feedback?
3. How successful was the product technically, measured against initial aspiration?
4. How efficiently was funding used (under budget/over budget)?
5. How effective was your awareness campaign?
6. Does the product have real world commercial viability?
7. Should your product/solution be scaled and what would the next steps be?

Reassessment will be to complete the design development and prototyping of individual student’s designs developed in ENG3013A, or of a design provided to students by the module lead when this is not possible. This will be worth 100% of the module and will be assessed by two coursework submissions, comprising a final build sign-off slide deck (70%), and a video presentation covering the marketing and sales pitch for the design (30%). For deferred candidates, the mark will be uncapped. For referred candidates, the mark will be capped at 40%.

Reading list for this module: