Development of CDIO skills through the concept of 'Small Business Projects' in Electromechanics

 Bachelors in electromechanics at University College Ghent receive a broad training during which they have to develop several projects. In the second year, they can choose a generic project, proposed by the teaching staff, or they can start their own “small business project” (SBP), in cooperation with Flemish Young Enterprises [1]. During a SBP students learn to create, manage and develop their own junior company which they use to market their own original idea and product. The whole business is based on their junior business plan, which is coached and checked by real business people, ‘godfathers’. The students decide themselves about their service or product after an intensive brainstorm workshop, a market exploration, a profound marketing study and a brief financial study. The chosen service or product fits in their curricula. The students have to organise every aspect, every management division from financial to the general management on their own, just like in a real business. They even have to create their own profit! Every SBP project group has the support from their own teachers, an SBP-coordinator and a business-godfather [1]. There’s a match between the philosophy of CDIO and the philosophy of small business projects. The paper shows how students can get real life experience in entrepreneurship during their training. At the same time they get the broader scope of the CDIO lifecycle.