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Work in Progress - Teaching Opportunity Identification

Engineers need to understand not only how to design products but also how to identify promising product opportunities. This knowledge allows engineers to move from supporting product innovation to driving innovation. By understanding and participating in the process engineers will be better able to understand customer needs, select product architectures compatible with future product goals and complete the product development process with less iteration. This paper describes two exercises which the authors have developed to guide students through the opportunity identification process. The first method is a big picture approach. Students are asked to identify significant macro changes in the larger environment. Students use these changes to identify future unmet needs. Finally product opportunities are created to meet the identified unmet needs. The second method focuses on identifying opportunities created by a designated macro environmental change such as the aging of the developed world. The methods presented allow engineering educators to easily implement opportunity identification material in their classes.