First year undergraduate students at London South Bank University’s School of Engineering undertook a group design project for their Design and Practice module. Students were tasked with developing business ideas that solved real problems London is facing. Almost 300 students participated, culminating in the top ten groups being shortlisted as finalists to a pitch party. Each group which made the top ten earned at least a £100 prize from the EIBF fund and were then given the opportunity to win an additional prize by preparing and presenting a three-minute pitch to their fellow shortlisted classmates, and a panel of esteemed judges.
The Engineers in Business Prize Fund is instrumental in igniting a passion for real-world problem-solving for my first-year undergraduate engineering students. In semester one those students are navigating through a lot of information. The module which runs design project one, that offers EIB Prize Fund, received arguably the best set of student projects this year. I was amazed by how well thought out the engineering business solutions were. Thanks to the prize fund, the students got to experience working on real challenges faced in London for a client where the best pitched ideas ‘won’. This instilled a great range of soft skills like creative problem solving, working in teams, working to a tight deadline, report writing and project pitching. The EIB Prize Fund helped to motivate the students and get them off to a great experience in their first semester at University. I’d like to thank the Engineers in Business Prize Fund for supporting my students at such a pivotal stage in their University life, and career.
Alessio Corso
Associate Professor and Head of Division: Mechanical Engineering and Design
London South Bank University