Industry Innovation Project

Industry partners are asked to submit an Expression of Interest before the deadline with contact information, the challenge statement and IP arrangement. This brief is assessed against TD School criteria and then shared (minus contact details) with BCII students for voting.

Before the subject begins, the Expressions of Interest forms (minus contact details) are shared with the students, who select 10 preferences for projects to work on. The Subject Coordinator then allocates students into multidisciplinary teams of 5-7 students based on their core degree and voting preferences. The Industry Innovation Project is a competitive process for partners and unfortunately, not all projects submitted proceed, with the voting process deciding which projects go forward.

If your project is allocated to a team any IP/NDA agreements for the students, must be available to be shared with the students prior to the official partner welcome event.

Yes, we have organisations that participate from a range of locations across Australia. As an industry partner, you are required to attend key online sessions and have regular check-ins with your student team which can be online.

Each year the students pick which projects go forward, selecting the challenges that they are most eager to work on. With this in mind, it is important to submit your Expression of Interest with the students in mind as your audience; you will need to outline your proposed challenge statement for students from a mix of core disciplines. BCII students are interested in challenges with purpose and possibility, and will be keen to know why the challenge is important to your organisation. 

The best challenges are ones that have a defined problem space and an open solution space. When the challenge a partner is facing is clearly articulated, yet potential solutions are left open, a sweet spot occurs that allows students to release their creativity and innovation. 

If the IIP team believes that more context or clarification is needed in your Expression of Interest before it is shared with the students for voting, we will come back to you with suggestions or additional questions.

Industry Innovation Projects require a nominated mentor/main point of contact from each partner organisation. This mentor will need to attend weekly check-ins with their student team, a midpoint check-in and the final presentation; they are also invited to participate in optional panel events during the subject. We estimate the minimum time commitment to be between 25 to 30 hours in total across the semester.

Industry Innovation Project is not an internship, it transcends both a typical client-consultant or expert-novice relationship. The subject offers industry partners the opportunity to gain insights from a student team outside of their organisation, whilst allowing students to deep-dive into a problem space with the guidance and context from a lead mentor. In comparison, internships are a more structured engagement whereby the student undergoes formal onboarding, and a dedicated supervisor provides them with a series of tasks.

Industry Innovation Project requires a lead mentor and an executive sponsor for each project. However, where feasible, we encourage multiple staff members with differing levels of seniority to engage with students during the project. These interactions allow students to better understand the culture of your organisation and the context of the challenge. In turn, this also exposes more people within your organisation to the transdisciplinary methodologies and creative practices the students are applying to your challenge, fostering improved mutual learning.

TD School encourages face-to-face engagement between industry partners and students where possible. While some larger sessions will be run online, smaller meetings between partners and teams (weekly meetings, Reframe check-in ) can either be in-person or online, depending on the industry partner’s preference and ability to engage.

We understand hosting students at your workplace once a week may not be possible for all organisations, such as those based outside of Sydney, those with visitation restrictions and where staff are working remotely. If this is the case, engagement can remain almost 100% virtual throughout the subject, with the exception of the Welcome Event, at the start of the engagement, which is in-person only.

Students undergo a process of ideation, reframing and refinement to present initiatives, insights and prototypes in response in a final presentation with a report.

1. Exploration and generation - Understanding the challenge by taking a deep dive into the problem space. During this phase, teams will apply methods from across their BCII degree to generate potential responses to the challenge.
2. Reframing and adaption - Checking in with Industry Partner and teaching staff. Students present a reframed brief to the partner for feedback and together they agree on a plan for the realisation of the project.
3. Realisation and refinement - Experimenting, adapting and analysing through iterative cycles. This final phase sees students work toward proof of concept and present their solution to their Industry Partner, peers and UTS in a final presentation session.

Whilst there is dedicated time for project work, students will also have formal classes during the subject. These sessions will take place in a large collaborative studio space where each student team will have its own dedicated groupwork zone. They involve the students meeting with their tutor and other teams, working together on their projects and participating in structured workshop activities.