Entrepreneurship Curricula And Competitions In The Faculty Of Engineering Of The University Of Ottawa

Engineers Canada has identified entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity as one of the five core sets of values for the engineering profession in Canada. According to the Canadian Academy of Engineering, creativity and innovation are indispensable qualities for engineers. Over the years, Canadian engineering schools have developed a number of curricular and extracurricular activities and programs in order to increase the exposure of engineering students to these important topics. The Faculty of Engineering of the University of Ottawa is a medium-size (by Canadian standards – 1,800 undergraduate and 600 graduate students; 115 regular faculty and 65 staff members) school that offers undergraduate and graduate programs in a number of engineering disciplines (biomedical, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, environmental, mechanical, software) and in computer science. Because of the bilingual nature of the University of Ottawa, students can choose to complete their studies in either one, or both, of Canada’s official languages. At the undergraduate level, the Faculty offers an option in engineering management and entrepreneurship in six (6) of its eight (8) engineering programs. In 2006, the Faculty established the $2-M Entrepreneurship and Innovation Endowment Fund (EIEF), thanks to an initial $1-M donation from an anonymous alumnus. Operating under the guidance of an expert Advisory Board, the EIEF has allowed the Faculty to create a bi-annual lecture series on entrepreneurship and innovation (Entrepreneurship Bridges Lecture Series) as well as two entrepreneurship competitions for undergraduate and graduate students respectively.