Syllabus academic year 2011/2012
(Created 2011-09-01.)
PROJECT ENGINEERING AT THE NANOSCALEFAFF05
Credits: 15. Grading scale: UG. Cycle: G2 (First Cycle). Main field: Technology. Language of instruction: The course will be given in Swedish. Compulsory for: N3. Course coordinator: Dr. Magnus Borgström, magnus.borgstrom@ftf.lth.se, Department of Physics. Recommended prerequisits: Compulsory courses of the first two years of the programme Engineering Nanoscience. Assessment: The examination is based on two written and one oral presentation of a project consisting of two parts. Further information: The project is conducted in group. Note that parts of the project may be handled with secrecy agreements if needed and agreed on. Home page: http://www.ftf.lth.se/~ftf-gu/FAF052.html.

Aim
The prime aim of the course is to gain knowledge regarding the development of commercial products and processes. The students will learn how to find information in patent databases, and gain knowledge regarding how patents are written and evaluated. The students will use their engineering skills in order to create a prototype of an instrument/device/product related to nanoscience.

Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must

Skills and abilities
For a passing grade the student must

be able to:

Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must

have gained knowledge about entrepreneurial activities and an understanding about various aspects of relevance for engineers when active in industry or academia.

Contents
The student will evaluate the possibilities and various aspects of commercializing an idea/innovation. The lectures illustrate different issues related to starting up a company, innovation processes, patent issues, and financing. A project will be carried out during the course which will result in two written reports and an oral presentation at a symposium.

The project is a group work where the students will make use of their engineering skills in order to produce a nano/micro based prototype of an instrument, device or product.

Project part 1 results in a written report of an analysis of an innovation picked up from running research activities or from a recently published scientific article. The relation between the innovation and three to four related patents is analyzed, as well as the differences between the patents and a related scientific article.

In project 2 the students will enter more deeply into one of the four following subtopics: 1) to write a patent, 2) to make a businessplan, 3) to perform a market analysis, 4) to write (popular) science.

Literature
Relevant material will be distributed at beginning of the course.