Overview of Strategies

Strategy 1

Innovation Club

Western Michigan University, like many other colleges, has a variety of student a Registered Student Organizations (RSOs). The innovation culture at Western seems to be segregated to graduate students or those in hands on classes. To challenge this culture and grow the overall definition of innovation on WMU's campus, more students need to be a part of the movement. To help spread the word and draw as many different people from various backgrounds, an RSO offers a simple start up process with the potential for a much more complex organization. As an organization the innovation club will impart the importance of design thinking and help students hone their ideas, mock up their models and fabricate working products.

To build this club, the following tactics should be implemented:

Tactic #1- Begin by creating a busines model canvas, and talking to people.

Tactic #2- Register with the University, and begin to advertise to interested students.

A club will be a good first step to bring innovation culture to the majority of Western's students.

Strategy 2

Innovation Space

Being a division one university, Western Michigan has a large campus full of often underutilized classroom and community spaces. This availability of space, and input from current students highlights the desire and plausibility for a successfully developed innovation space. Existing labs and spaces are available for student use, though many of the labs are under utilized as they are hard to gain access to. Additionally, these spaces only have potential to serve as innovation spaces; they are not labeled or considered as such by current students.

To accomplish this project, the following tactics should be considered:

Tactic #1: Allocate space. Identify which spaces could be available for innovation and have an in depth understanding for what will need to be done to each for it to be functional.

Tactic #2: Train leaders to work the room and operate equipment in the safest maner possible.

Tactic #2:Develope an accountability system to make sure that the spaces are being used and reserved in an orderly way. A system easily available for students to reserve the spaces for limited time and have a system to ensure that the spaces are well kept is a neccesity to encourage participation.

One of the main functions of innovation spaces are bringing students together to collaborate and improve on each other's ideas. College specific spaces do not encourage this communication across majors. Therefore, the end location would have to satisy the criteria of accessibility, low cost, and continued student support.

Strategy 3

Interdisciplinary Senior Design

Senior engineering students at WMU must complete a senior design project as a requirement for graduation from their program. Currently, students only work with other students within their respective major or department. Project presentations occur twice a year in April and October. Completion of a senior design project indicates successful acquisition of major specific knowledge as well as real world application skills. However, the structure of post-graduate corporate America isn’t organized into teams by college major. It is full of interdisciplinary creative groups expressing entrepreneurial and innovative tendencies towards specific challenges. Multiple discipline collaboration within the College of Engineering & Applied Sciences and beyond during senior projects encourages the continued development of innovation and entrepreneurial skills as students enter the workforce.

To accomplish this, the following tactics should be considered:

Tactic #1:Encourage the acceptance of interdisciplinary projects as viable and long lasting topics for senior design presentations rather than the result of a last minute group and idea formation.

Tactic #2: Meet with and discuss the process involved in approving senior design projects with faculty in charge. Getting an understanding of the requirements allows parameters to be set so that the proper balance of innovation and knowledge recitation can occur.

Tactic #3: Gain student interest. Spread the word about possible senior design collaborations between majors to future seniors to prove the existing interest to faculty and decision makers in charge of approval.

Strategy 4

Focus on Intrapreneurship

Overview: Due to the campus culture at WMU, “entrepreneurship” seems to only be a buzzword. To many students, entrepreneurship only means starting a business from scratch. While this is true, it is not fully representative of the entire scope of entrepreneurship and innovation. The other portion is often called intrapreneurship, or innovation that occurs within existing industries.

Tactic #1: While students within the College of Engineering & Applied Sciences are constantly building, creating, and designing solutions, few realize how much innovation is actually occurring, and how the lessons they are learning can be applied to their future career. One option is to bring in industry leaders to speak about how they use design thinking and innovation in their workplace. This could stress the importance of entrepreneurial thinking as a whole, independent of whether the student wanted to open a business or enter the workplace.

Tactic #2: WMU could also offer intrapreneurship workshops to highlight the skills necessary to be successful in particular industries. Focus would be on the approach and application of the design cycle within the restraints of a company.

Priorities:Western Michigan University Student Priorities

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