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. 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. In parallel with your product development, you and your team will need to develop a brand and customer 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). At the end of your 11 week cycle of rapid product development, there will be a product presentation and evaluation where you and your team will reflect on progress to date, the commercial viability of your product 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.

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 C1, P1

ILO #2 Use technical engineering knowledge and analysis and modelling skills to develop a detailed design that meets set requirements C1, P1

ILO #3 Perform iterative product development utilising prototyping and user testing C1, P1

ILO #4  Evaluate the effectiveness of your product/solution and identify appropriate courses of action for improvement C1, P1

ILO #5 Identify appropriate manufacturing processes for production at scale C1, P1

ILO #6 Develop and manage a multi-strand programme of design and development C1, P1

ILO #7 Work effectively in a group, demonstrating good team working andcommunication skills C1, P1

ILO #8 Verbally present information in a confident and professional manner P1

ILO #9 Condense a large amount of technical information into a compelling andconcise report form C1

ILO #10 Use data to make evidence-based decisions and logical arguments C1, P1

ILO #11 Impartially evaluate the outcome of a programme of work in terms of budget,schedule, and quality/effectiveness C1, P1

1: Developing a brand strategy and implementing a customer awareness campaign with the aim of continually building interest and anticipation of a product launch;

2: Technical development of your proposed solution;

3: Rapid iterative prototype development to refine your solution;

4: Exploring manufacturing techniques to determine what is the most efficient way to produce at scale;

5: User testing/customer feedback;

6: Final product presentation and evaluation;

Reassessment will be by coursework and/or practical in the failed or deferred element only. For deferred candidates, the module mark will be uncapped. For referred candidates, the module mark will be capped at 40%.

Reading list for this module: