The 'Ingenia' Initiative: a multidisciplinary set of subjects for promoting the CDIO methodology in a Master's Degree in Industrial Engineering

The implementation of the “Bologna process” has culminated at ETSII – TU Madrid with the beginning of the Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering, in academic year 2014-15. The program has been successfully approved by the Spanish Agency for Accreditation (ANECA) and includes a set of parallel subjects, based on the CDIO methodology, denominated generally “INGENIA”, linked to the Spanish “ingeniar” (to provide ingenious solutions), also related etymologically in Spanish with “ingeniero”, engineer. INGENIA students live through the complete development process of complex products or systems liked to the different engineering majors at ETSII – TU Madrid. All subjects within the INGENIA initiative have an analogous structure and aim at the promotion similar professional outcomes, linked to the ability to design, implement and operate engineering systems, also focusing on teamwork and communication skills, and trying to systematically promote student creativity and their interest in social and ethical aspects of engineering for a sustainable World. In this study we present the complete development of the INGENIA initiative, which includes subjects on: “Automotive Engineering”, “Systems Engineering”, “Electronic Systems”, “Product Concept Development”, “Biomedical Engineering Design”, “Engineering Design”, “Construction Engineering and Installations” and “Electrical Systems”. During present academic year, groups of students in the different subjects of the INGENIA initiative, have lived through the complete development process of: a Formula-Student competition car, a cooperative group of drones, electronic systems for monitoring and improving the conditions of our university, innovative household products, biomedical devices, mechanical systems and machines, a modern beer brewery and a sustainable electricity supply network. Intensive use of supporting software, prototyping technologies and testing facilities at different labs from our university, has been a key aspect for adequately fulfilling all the CDIO steps, from the conception and design, to the implementation and operation. Main benefits, lessons learned and challenges, linked to this multidisciplinary and multisubject INGENIA CDIO initiative, are analyzed, taking into account the results from 20142015 academic course. Students’ and teachers’ expectations and opinions have been systematically gathered and are also detailed and discussed. To our knowledge, the INGENIA initiative constitutes the first integral application of the CDIO methodology to the field of Industrial Engineering in our country.