B-SMART: a university-industry teaching innovation project

Abstract

The present work aims at presenting a teaching innovation project, the BSMART, which has been implemented at UIC Barcelona in the academic year 2018/19. Conceived as a project to respond to social demands, the B-SMART project aims at creating a collaborative environment and at strengthening the ties between companies (mainly targeted to SMEs, start-ups and NGOs) and the university. To do so, students work on real challenges or projects posed by companies. This approach helps students to better understand the theoretical concepts taught in class as well as to boost soft skills that will be required in their daily practice. In turn, companies gain access to new talent (students), fresh ideas, and the knowledge and infrastructures available at the university. In this study we explain the project and pay special attention to the first two projects solved through the B-SMART project. We use design thinking as the teaching method. Preliminary results show that both students and companies benefit from this experience.