FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES
School of Electrical & Information Engineering
ENGG5102: ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR ENGINEERS
Semester 1, 2018 | 6 Credit Points | Mode: Normal-Day
Sessions Valid: Semester 1
Coordinator(s): Mahyar Shirvanimoghaddam
WARNING: This unit version is currently being edited and is subject to change!
1. INTRODUCTION
This unit of study aims to introduce graduate engineering students from all disciplines to the concepts and practices of entrepreneurial thinking.
Introduction to Entrepreneurship will offer the foundation for leaders of tomorrow's high-tech companies, by providing the knowledge and
skills important to the creation and leadership of entrepreneurial ventures. The focus of the unit of study is on how to launch, lead and manage
a viable business starting with concept validation to commercialisation and successful business formation.
The following topics are covered: Entrepreneurship: Turning Ideas into Reality, Building the Business Plan, Creating a Successful Financial
Plan, Project planning and resource management, Budgeting and managing cash flow, Marketing and advertising strategies, E-Commerce and
Entrepreneurship, Procurement Management Strategies, The Legal Environment: Business Law and Government Regulation, Intellectual
property: inventions, patents and copyright, Workplace, workforce and employment topics, Conflict resolution and working relationships,
Ethics and Social Responsibility.
2. LEARNING OUTCOMES
Learning outcomes are the key abilities and knowledge that will be assessed in this unit. See assessment summary table below for details of
which outcomes are assessed where. Outcomes are listed according to the course goals that they support.
Communication (Level 4)
1. Understand what venture project stakeholders requires of them and what they can require of others
2. Communicate with Financial, Design, Development, Marketing and Production Departments
3. Develop the ability to build and present a business plan for a technology idea.
Professional Conduct (Level 3)
4. Analyse the roles of engineers in creating productive, economic, successful venture projects in a variety of engineering projects
5. Analyse the social, ethical and legal issues that arise from venture economic activities.
6. Analyse the economic, social and ethical issues involved in any engineering project in which the student might become involved
7. Understand the requirements of financial, supply chain, development team, marketing and production interfaces
8. Understand the main operational requirements of a venture entrepreneur working in industry
9. Identify and record the intellectual property content of their work
10. Understand the requirements of a quality system
For further details of course goals related to these learning outcomes, see online unit outline at http://cusp.eng.usyd.edu.au/students/view-unit-
page/alpha/ENGG5102 .
3. ASSESSMENT TASKS
ASSESSMENT SUMMARY
Assessment name Team-based? Weight Due Outcomes Assessed
Individual Assignment Yes 20% Week 5 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10
Group Assignment Yes 80% Multiple Weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
ASSESSMENT DESCRIPTION
Individual assignment - Tutorial-based technology analysis exercise
Group assignments - Business plan proposal, business plan presentation and detailed business plan for a new engineering-based venture
ASSESSMENT GRADING
Final grades in this unit are awarded at levels of HD for High Distinction, DI (previously D) for Distinction, CR for Credit, PS (previously P) for
Pass and FA (previously F) for Fail as defined by University of Sydney Assessment Policy. Details of the Assessment Policy are available on the
Policies website at http://sydney.edu.au/policies . Standards for grades in individual assessment tasks and the summative method for obtaining a
final mark in the unit will be set out in a marking guide supplied by the unit coordinator.
4. ATTRIBUTES DEVELOPED
Attributes listed here represent the course goals designated for this unit. The list below describes how these attributes are developed through
practice in the unit. See Learning Outcomes and Assessment sections above for details of how these attributes are assessed.
ENGG5102: Entrepreneurship for Engineers (Semester 1, 2018)
Attribute Method
Communication (Level 4) Understanding what venture stakeholders requires of engineers and what they can require
of others. Communicating with Venture Capitalists, Product Developers, Marketing and
Distribution, and Production Departments.
Professional Conduct (Level 3) Learning about: (a) What industry expects of engineers in the commercial engineering
environment, (b) the day-to-day practices of the industrial environment, (c) the
entrepreneurial process from the generation of creative ideas to the creation of an
enterprise for their implementation, and (d) intellectual property protection. Through
engineering project case studies, thinking critically about: (a) the roles that engineers play
in the generation of successful ventures, (b) the social and ethical issues in which
engineers can become involved when they apply engineering knowledge to the generation
of productive, economic activity.
Project and Team Skills (Level 3) Understanding how to form and manage a venture project team.
For further details of course goals and professional attribute standards, see the online version of this outline at
http://cusp.eng.usyd.edu.au/students/view-unit-page/alpha/ENGG5102 .
5. STUDY COMMITMENT
Activity Hours per Week Sessions per Week Weeks per Semester
Lecture 2.00 1 13
Independent Study 5.00 13
Tutorial 2.00 1 13
Standard unit of study workload at this university should be from 1.5 to 2 hours per credit point which means 9-12 hours for a normal 6 credit
point unit of study. For units that are based on research or practical experience, hours may vary. For lecture and tutorial timetable, see
University timetable site at: web.timetable.usyd.edu.au/calendar.jsp
6. TEACHING STAFF AND CONTACT DETAILS
COORDINATOR(S)
Name Room Phone Email Contact note
Dr Shirvanimoghaddam, Mahyar [email protected]
LECTURERS
Name Room Phone Email Contact note
Mr Yapoudjian, Arek [email protected]
7. ENROLMENT REQUIREMENTS
ASSUMED KNOWLEDGE
Some limited industry experience is preferred but not essential.
PREREQUISITES
None.
PROHIBITIONS
ELEC5701.
8. POLICIES
ACADEMIC HONESTY
While the University is aware that the vast majority of students and staff act ethically and honestly, it is opposed to and will not tolerate academic
dishonesty or plagiarism and will treat all allegations of dishonesty seriously.
All students are expected to be familiar and act in compliance with the relevant University policies, procedures and codes, which include:
- Academic Honesty in Coursework Policy 2015
- Academic Honesty Procedures 2016
- Code of Conduct for Students
- Research Code of Conduct 2013 (for honours and postgraduate dissertation units)
They can be accessed via the University''s Policy Register: http://sydney.edu.au/policies (enter "Academic Honesty" in the search field).
ENGG5102: Entrepreneurship for Engineers (Semester 1, 2018)
Students should never use document-sharing sites and should be extremely wary of using online “tutor” services. Further information on academic honesty
and the resources available to all students can be found on the Academic Integrity page of the University website:
http://sydney.edu.au/elearning/student/EI/index.shtml
Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism
Academic dishonesty involves seeking unfair academic advantage or helping another student to do so.
You may be found to have engaged in academic dishonesty if you:
- Resubmit (or “recycle”) work that you have already submitted for assessment in the same unit or in a different unit or previous attempt;
- Use assignment answers hosted on the internet, including those uploaded to document sharing websites by other students.
- Have someone else complete part or all of an assignment for you, or do this for another student.
- Except for legitimate group work purposes, providing assignment questions and answers to other students directly or through social media platforms
or document (“notes”) sharing websites, including essays and written reports.
- Engage in examination misconduct, including using cheat notes or unapproved electronic devices (e.g., smartphones), copying from other students,
discussing an exam with another person while it is in progress, or removing confidential examination papers from the examination venue.
- Engage in dishonest plagiarism.
Plagiarism means presenting another person’s work as if it is your own without properly or adequately referencing the original source of the
work.
Plagiarism is using someone else’s ideas, words, formulas, methods, evidence, programming code, images, artworks, or musical creations without proper
acknowledgement. If you use someone’s actual words you must use quotation marks as well as an appropriate reference. If you use someone’s ideas,
formulas, methods, evidence, tables or images you must use a reference. You must not present someone’s artistic work, musical creation, programming
code or any other form of intellectual property as your own. If referring to any of these, you must always present them as the work of their creator and
reference in an appropriate way.
Plagiarism is always unacceptable, regardless of whether it is done intentionally or not. It is considered dishonest if done knowingly, with intent to deceive
or if a reasonable person can see that the assignment contains more work copied from other sources than the student’s original work. The University
understands that not all plagiarism is dishonest and provides students with opportunities to improve their academic writing, including their understanding of
scholarly citation and referencing practices.
USE OF SIMILARITY DETECTION SOFTWARE
All written assignments submitted in this unit of study will be submitted to the similarity detecting software program known as Turnitin. Turnitin searches
for matches between text in your written assessment task and text sourced from the Internet, published works and assignments that have previously been
submitted to Turnitin for analysis.
There will always be some degree of text-matching when using Turnitin. Text-matching may occur in use of direct quotations, technical terms and phrases,
or the listing of bibliographic material. This does not mean you will automatically be accused of academic dishonesty or plagiarism, although Turnitin
reports may be used as evidence in academic dishonesty and plagiarism decision-making processes.
Computer programming assignments may also be checked by specialist code similarity detection software. The Faculty of Engineering & IT currently uses
the MOSS similarity detection engine (see http://theory.stanford.edu/~aiken/moss/) . These programs work in a similar way to TII in that they check for
similarity against a database of previously submitted assignments and code available on the internet, but they have added functionality to detect cases of
similarity of holistic code structure in cases such as global search and replace of variable names, reordering of lines, changing of comment lines, and the
use of white space.
See the policies page of the faculty website at http://sydney.edu.au/engineering/student-policies/ for information regarding university policies
and local provisions and procedures within the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies.
9. WEEKLY SCHEDULE
Note that the "Weeks" referred to in this Schedule are those of the official university semester calendar
https://web.timetable.usyd.edu.au/calendar.jsp
ENGG5102: Entrepreneurship for Engineers (Semester 1, 2018)
Week Topics/Activities
Week 1 Engineering Entrepreneurship: Turning Ideas into Reality
It provides an introduction to the module while examining the nature of entrepreneurial behaviour and its role in both
small and large organisations within an engineering context.
Week 2 Innovation and Technology Strategy in Engineering Firms
It defines the technology strategy and explains why it is important for engineering managers to combine technology
and business to create successful entrepreneurs and innovators.
Week 3 Recognizing and Screening Technology Opportunities
It examines the ways of distinguishing between ideas and opportunities and provides some technology opportunities
creative screening tools such as technology roadmapping, TRIZ, etc.
Week 4 Tools for mapping technology advances - horizon scanning, patent data analysis, data mining
It provides an understanding of the various tools for mapping technology advances and products, such as horizon
scanning, patent data analysis, data mining.
Week 5 Industry, Market and Customer Needs Analysis in Major Engineering Sectors
It explains the importance of defining market and customer needs and ensures that new products are both
economically viable and provide better alternatives to what competition is already offering in any specific industry.
Assessment Due: Individual Assignment
Week 6 Building an Effective Business Plan
It provides a clear understanding of the development of a robust business plan in order to establish a sustainable
innovation culture within engineering organisations.
Week 7 Creating a Successful Financial Plan, Budgeting and Managing Case Flow
It explains the importance of financial planning for engineering organisations to determine the economic potential of
their opportunities and provides some means to measure the profitability of their ventures.
Week 8 Moving from R&D to Operations
It highlights the dynamics in moving from a technology team to a fully operational environment, where the challenges
are around identifying the best organisational model and how to meet the various legal forms of these models.
Week 9 Collaboration Strategies
It provides a detailed analysis of the challenges facing engineering organisations to determine whether is best to
perform alone or to work collaboratively with other business partners in a highly competitive market environment.
Week 10 E-Commerce and Engineering Entrepreneurship
It provides an overview of the challenges facing the engineering entrepreneurs in the new economy model, and how
they need to position themselves online where the majority of customers are now present.
Week 11 The Legal Environment: Business Law and Government Regulation
It provides an overview of the increasingly complex legal and regulatory framework, where engineering entrepreneurs
must follow requirements including legislation, government regulations and common law, as well as industry codes of
conduct,
Week 12 Intellectual property: inventions, patents and copyright
It provides awareness for firms built on innovation and technology to develop and protect the intellectual property of
the engineering venture as a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Week 13 Engineering Ethics and Social Responsibility
It explains the importance of engineering ethics and social responsibility for entrepreneurial organisations as a
contributing factor to safe and useful technological products and giving meaning to engineering endeavours.
STUVAC (Week No lectures
14)
Exam Period No Lectures
ENGG5102: Entrepreneurship for Engineers (Semester 1, 2018)
