The Bachelor of Innovation™ Family of Degrees: Transforming Education in Engineering to Education in Innovation

This paper focuses on the transformation of education in engineering to education in engineering innovation. In particular, this paper describes the award winning Bachelor of Innovation™ (BI) family of degrees at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, which is a unique partnership between the schools of business and engineering that includes four BI degrees in engineering. We first examine the motivation and need for a radically new approach. This approach is based on a new common core of innovation courses and family of degrees and majors, in contrast to efforts at many schools that offer only a single major or course. A critical element of this radical approach is that the program span across departments, colleges, and even beyond the boundaries of the university. Second, we describe in detail the BI degree structure and summarize the unique aspects of the program, from the three-year multi-disciplinary team experience to the trademarked name. We present our BI program as its own case study in innovation within higher education and review the key challenges we faced. We then review existing university engineering programs and demonstrate the unique position of the BI family of degrees relative to these other programs. We conclude with lessons learned and a look at some accomplishments so far.