The Role of University Engineering Schools in Product Design and Development for the Irish Innovation Economy

Posted on: 25 January 2010

A public lecture in Trinity College by Innovation Taskforce member Dr Burton Lee this Wednesday evening will discuss the importance of product design and development as a key element of national innovation strategy and policy.

Why many university engineering schools with global aspirations are today embracing product design as a foundational building block of their teaching, research and industrial collaboration programmes and missions will also be addressed.

Part of the TCD/UCD Innovation Alliance lecture series, Dr Lee of Innovarium Ventures and Stanford University’s topic is Product Design and Development as the Foundation for the Irish Innovation Economy: The Role of University Engineering Schools. 

Dr Lee will discuss the need to develop a robust product design and development community and capability here in Ireland, both in industry and higher education institutions, as a core element of Ireland’s drive to improve the innovation capacity and performance of existing indigenous Irish enterprises, and as a new tool in its approach to attracting and retaining MNCs from overseas. Using examples from Stanford University’s own product design programme and d.school, he will identify various approaches through which Irish engineering schools can address this issue.

As a part of this lecture, Ian Quinn, Chairman of Creganna, will present several examples of world-class medical devices being designed and manufactured by his company in Galway for the global marketplace. An Irish software industry perspective on the need to embrace software engineering as part of the increasing national focus on product design and development will also be provided.

Public lecture details:
Date:     27 January 2010
Time:     6.00pm
Venue:   PACCAR Theatre, Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin.