Engineers And Scientists : Value Creators In The Seven-Phased Model Of Technological Innovation

The author has used the seven-phased model of technological innovation to introduce to engineering students at the undergraduate, masters, and doctoral levels the principle of upward cascading value of their ideas once they are properly harnessed. This article explains the simplified technological innovation journey as a seven-phased model to help more engineers and scientists to understand their value-creating role in the early phases of the journey. In addition, students also learn to protect this intellectual property with provisional patent applications to add value to their ideas and resulting products. The article uses an illustration to show how the value created by engineers/scientists could cascade upward. It comes as a revelation to engineering students that they can create value for themselves, for potential investors, and for the economy with their engineering education.