Entrepreneurially Minded Engineering
A 5-Stop Tour
Welcome aboard!
On this tour, we'll show you integral elements of the work involved in combining entrepreneurial mindset and engineering. Each “stop” on the tour contains a narrative and links to explore these elements further.
Ready? Scroll the page or jump to a stop:
Stop 1: What is the Entrepreneurial Mindset?
Stop 2: The KEEN Framework
Stop 3: What is KEEN?
Stop 4: What is Engineering Unleashed?
Stop 5: Community Work & Resources
STOP #1: What is the Entrepreneurial Mindset?
An entrepreneurial mindset is a collection of mental habits that empower you to question, adapt, and make positive change.
This leads you to:
- Recognize and identify opportunities
- Focus on their impact
- Create value in any context
While these abilities are important in many different fields, our focus is on engineers.
An individual who combines an entrepreneurial mindset and an engineering skill set is particularly powerful in today’s technology-enabled world.
Why? This combination creates a high potential for success, both for the individual and for greater society. This success might manifest as meaningful work, jobs, progress, and the general ability to participate in the creation and exchange value. Further, the concept of value has manifold forms, including economic, personal, and societal.
Take a moment to explore these "Whys?" as related by persons invested in entrepreneurial mindset:
Industry and organizations.
Communities.
Faculty who are teaching.
Personal success of students and graduates.
The ability to create value in any context reaches greatest potential with the development of an entrepreneurial mindset. But to do both well and good in the world requires more than an entrepreneurial mindset.
To sum up: The engineer we need is one with an entrepreneurial mindset that is coupled with engineering thought and action, expressed through collaboration and communication, and founded on character.
Explore the entrepreneurial mindset.
STOP #2: The KEEN Framework
A conceptual framework describing entrepreneurial mindset (EM) emerged from joint work in collaboration with partners.
The KEEN Framework codified EM through what we call the 3C’s: Curiosity, Connections, and Creating Value. It also gave the partners a working definition and a language, making the ideas transferable across a network of individuals and institutions who share the mission.
The KEEN Framework is designed to be adapted to a variety of contexts. It does not directly map to a rubric or measurement of fidelity and performance. However, some partners have extended it into one, noting that mindset is difficult to assess. In general, behavioral assessment becomes the proxy.
Explore the KEEN Framework.
STOP #3: What is KEEN?
KEEN is a partnership of institutions that have agreed to be leaders in designing programs aimed at fostering an entrepreneurial mindset across their college or department - i.e., full sail.
View the partner list and sample individual partner pages.
Learn more about KEEN.
View the KEEN partner list.
Explore Arizona State.
Explore Rose-Hulman.
STOP #4: What is Engineering Unleashed?
Engineering Unleashed is a broader network than KEEN.
The community participating here on this digital platform is comprised of individuals from 340+ institutions who share classroom and course content, collaborate on ideas and projects, and participate in live events.
Engineering Unleashed is open to all higher ed educators who subscribe to the mission. About 90% of the 4,800+ members are engineering educators within the U.S. They hail from a myriad of backgrounds, disciplines, interests, and ranks and roles.
Explore classroom activities and course content.
Learn about our mission.
STOP #5: Community Work & Resources
The work from both Engineering Unleashed and KEEN takes on a variety of forms.
- Some are intercollegiate, such as the Engineering Unleashed Faculty Development (EUFD) National Workshops and other learning opportunities.
- Other work is displayed and shared in Engineering Unleashed “cards," an online template where faculty and staff from institutions around the nation publish their lesson plans, instructor tips, presentation decks, and other content.
For example, the card "Flying Forces: Adding Lift to Statics" contains downloadable class materials to teach a specific technique for this engineering subject every undergraduate engineer encounters. Cards have depth and reach beyond their home institution. "Flying Forces" hails from Worcester Polytechnic but is used across the memberships of KEEN and Engineering Unleashed.
EUFD participants, who also create cards, have an opportunity to be selected as Engineering Unleashed Fellows in recognition of their contribution to entrepreneurial engineering education.
Lastly, the KEEN’zine is a complimentary, interactive magazine for mindset, full of faculty and industry stories that will ignite ideas and launch endeavors.