The collaborative engineer: How education can bring forth the next generation of engineers

Abstract

To cope with the inherent multidisciplinarity and complexity of the aircraft development process, decentralized knowledge-based aircraft development methods are emerging strongly over the past decade. Compared to the classical sequential development process, the role of engineers is changing from being individual discipline-specific designers to a setup in which a multitude of specialists collaboratively solve design questions. This presentation provides an overview of the required roles in collaborative design and proposes ideas on the type of engineers education should deliver. Driven by the inherent complexity of the aircraft development process, decentralized knowledge-based methods are emerging. The traditional role of engineers is changing to fit a setup in which a multitude of specialists collaboratively solve design questions. An overview of the required roles in collaborative design and ideas on the type of engineers education should deliver are proposed.