Increasing the Pro-entrepreneurial Attitude of Students Through Interdisciplinary Action in STEM Related Fields

Since 2014, the Silesian University of TechnologyTechnology (Poland), at the Faculty of Automatic Control, Electronics and Computer Science has developed an autonomous measurement platform, enabling the performance of physical and chemical analyses in water reservoirs. Students from various fields of study (Automation, IT, Chemistry, Environmental EngineeringEngineering) learn to work in interdisciplinaryInterdisciplinary teams by carrying out various tasks. These tasks are carried out in cooperation with experts being representatives of other science fields or representatives of industry. Students were asked to improve and optimize the platform functionality as well as recognise the possibility of commercialising the final productProduct. Namely finding potential customersConsumer (Customer) for the platform and determining the direction in which the platform should be developed so that it could find stakeholders. Students encountered many problems, such as, standardised measurements or practical obstacles, which prevented effective cooperation with potential businessBusinessclientsClients. This approach helped students participating in STEM educationSTEM education to realise that a good and interesting project in their discipline does not ensure success in the businessBusiness sphere. Often, market expectations are different to what the productProduct creators imagine, which makes it difficult to introduce innovative productsProduct to the market. Recognition of customerConsumer (Customer) expectations can help to change the approach to the developed productProduct, its properties and the approach to its commercialisation, as shown by the conclusions of the survey on the expectations of potential customersConsumer (Customer). By implementing the discussed engineeringEngineering project, students acquired many skills that are the basis of entrepreneurial thinking, such as the ability to make decisions in changing conditions, self-assessmentAssessment of their actions, communication skills and cooperation in a group. All these new or improved skills resulted in increased motivationMotivation to continue acting and approaching new engineeringEngineeringchallengesChallenges with a focus on new, innovative solutions.