Manufacturing Technologies and Business Model Innovation in the Age of Sustainability (Summer School)

The course will allow you to develop in-depth knowledge in an action-based approach. You will have the chance to apply content from lectures and discussions in exiting contexts within and outside of university boundaries. To achieve this, we will follow a process-based approach to get an initial holistic overview which we will then apply in practice-oriented activities. We will jointly explore the following stages:

Stage 1: Smart Manufacturing

This part of the course will provide the participants with an introduction to Manufacturing Businesses of the Future. The students will get to know state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies (Industry 4.0 enabling technologies) from practical examples. Students will actively work in designing and modelling tools to create additional value in manufacturing and production settings. They will gain in-depth insights into the origin and application opportunities of Industry 4.0-related technologies, such as additive manufacturing, the Internet of Things (IoT) and/or simulation.

Stage 2: Business Model Innovation

This stage provides you with an understanding of the process of generating and evaluating new venture ideas. You will work in groups and you will relate your technology-based idea to the market, customer and competition side of a business case. Whereas the idea generation stage requires creative thought and search for novel ideas, the idea evaluation stage requires critical assessment of whether a successful business case can be derived from those ideas. We will use tools of business modeling and assumption testing that support you in making informed evaluations of the generated ideas. 

Stage 3: Sustainability

We will briefly explore the UN´s SDGs to get a holistic overview of sustainability as a paradigm. We will then view it from three perspectives, namely people, profit, and planet (social, economic, and environmental sustainability). We will investigate current case studies of businesses and initiatives within green businesses and develop a critical perspective regarding green washing and corporate social responsibility.

Stage 4: Practice

This course will also offer you the opportunity to discuss your ideas in relation to real-life scenarios, for example with experts, such as company representatives or researchers, to allow for a critical reflection. You will learn how to communicate relevant and integral elements of your ideas.

Please note that this course will only be offered as an online course in 2020.

The Faculty of Engineering has adopted a student-centred approach to learning, and teaching is mainly focused on project work in small teams. In doing so, students participate significantly to online group work and meetings as well as to class meetings.

Please note that this course will be offered as an online course in 2020 due to the uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic.

Please note that registration for this course is binding.

• Engineering students from Electronics who need this specific summer course or 5 ECTS electives in order to graduate    
• Engineering students from Electronics (except the above)  
• Engineering students from closely related degrees provided the course is approved as an elective on their study programmes
• Other students from SDU-TEK provided the course is approved as an elective on their study programmes
• Other students from SDU-NAT provided the course is approved as an elective on their study programmes 
• Other students from SDU-TEK, SDU-NAT or SDU-SAMF with preapproval of credit transfer
• Other students from SDU with preapproval of credit transfer