Development of an Educational Ecosystem that Supports Engineering Research

Engineering education needs to be constantly fine-tuned according to the changing requirements of the day, in order to ensure that the emerging engineering professionals are future-ready. This requires students of engineering to be conversant with concepts and techniques of creative thinking and imbibe necessary attitudes and skills belonging to the entrepreneurial and startup era during their professional development. The current paper reports the efforts of establishing a suitable educational ecosystem that supports engineering research at an engineering education institution, by integrating the faculty research with the student research and by integrating academic research with industrial research, in such a way that the interests of all parties are adequately taken care of. The paper also elaborates how such an ecosystem additionally supports development of entrepreneurial skills of the students, equipping them to contribute to the contemporary entrepreneurial and startup culture.