Syllabus

LEARNING OUTCOMES

In this course students plan and prepare for their professional career in the commercialization, R&D, Innovation, or New Business Development functions of companies, while collaborating closely with industrial partners. The course draws heavily on a learning-by-doing pedagogical approach, which is reflected on how the course is designed and how students are assessed.
Under completion of the course the student will be able to develop following knowledge and skills:
Ability to work on developing a solution-focused approach in translating innovations into feasible business solutions
Ability to identify immediate consequences of plans and decisions in developing business solutions from technological innovations
Development of expertise and capabilities in managing resources needed to commercialize new technologies
Develop knowledge and expertise in research methods, processes and techniques employed in research companies
Develop knowledge and expertise in developing business models from the commercialization process of new technologies
Develop knowledge and expertise in understanding the boundary conditions and constrains of the commercialization process within existing companies
Develop knowledge of the professional role of innovation, R&D, or New Business Development manager involves as a career path option

Credits: 10

Schedule: 01.08.2023 - 31.07.2024

Teacher in charge (valid for whole curriculum period):

Teacher in charge (applies in this implementation): Mathias Groth

Contact information for the course (applies in this implementation):

Mathias Groth (mathias.groth@aalto.fi)

CEFR level (valid for whole curriculum period):

Language of instruction and studies (applies in this implementation):

Teaching language: English. Languages of study attainment: English

CONTENT, ASSESSMENT AND WORKLOAD

Content

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  The course is designed to allow individual students to work for approximately 3 months period at the premises of a company on a specific company-related project. The project objectives will be selected in advance between the company and the university. The student will be working under the supervision of a local manager, preferably in the R&D, Innovation, or New Business Development divisions of the partnering company who will act as mentor to the student by advising the students in developing technical, as well as business and career skills and expertise. Further, the student will be supervised by an academic teacher on developing the technical side of the company project.
  The student will develop the above mentioned learning outcomes through the hands-on engagement in the company-related project, through mentoring meetings with their company supervisor, through mentoring meeting with their academic supervisor, and through maintaining a weekly learning log of their internships where they will need to identity the new technical- and innovation-related knowledge and skills they acquire as the project evolves.
  At the end of the course, the students will present or report the outcomes of their project to the company, and submit a thorough reflective essay (2000 words) of their internship experience.

• applies in this implementation

  • The course Company Internship provides the department-level entry point to carry out internships in external company supervised by an professor at the Department of Applied Physics (PHYS).

    The course is set up between the student, the external advisor of the assignment and a supervising professor at PHYS. The student and, if applicable, their external advisor, contacts the course-responsible professor (currently, Prof. Mathias Groth, mathias.groth@aalto.fi) to discuss the scope of the assignment. The course-responsible professor will attempt to connect the project to a professor within PHYS who is potentially familiar with the subject of the project, and willing to serve as the supervising PHYS professor. The assignment will then be followed by the assigned professor for the duration of the project. If the internship cannot be allocated to a subject-suitable professor, the course-responsible professor will be supervising the internship administratively.
    

  • The student is expected to keep in communication with both the company-based instructor(s) and the PHYS professor. The course-responsible professor will prompt the student for one month after the due-date of the report. If the student fails to produce the report within 16 weeks of the project start, the course-responsible professor will cease prompting the student. After 16 weeks the student will need to provide an explanation why to report is late. It is the student's sole responsibility to resolve the evaluation with the course-responsible professor and the PHYS professor for the M.Sc. programme.
  
  

Assessment Methods and Criteria

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Application process for the internship
  Company presentation or report
  Final written report and assessment by company-external instructor
  Development of Linkedin profile and uploading a brief description of this project and internship

• applies in this implementation

  The course is graded pass/fail. A technical assessment of the report, provided by the company-based instructor using the template of PHYS-E0441 (Special Assignment V) is desired, but not necessary for passing the course. Based on the presentations and report, the course-responsible professor will assess pass/fail.

  • The report will be assessed according to the following elements:
    

    • Definition of research scope and goals  
      
    • Command of the topic 
    • Methods 
    • Results and contribution
    • Presentation, language and structure 
    • Assignment process  
    • In addition to a report, a final presentation on the assignment/thesis work is required.
      

    
    

  • The required language to pass this course is English.

  
  

Workload

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Tutored self-studies at an external company

• applies in this implementation

  The workload of this course is equivalent to 10 credits, hence 260 hours, preferably over the course of three months. The workload is agreed between the student, the company-based instructor and the supervising professor during the project setup prior to starting the project.
  

DETAILS

Study Material

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Provided jointly by external company and supervising professor

• applies in this implementation

  The course material will be provided by the company-based instructor. The scope and setup of the project is agreed between the student, the company-based instructor and the supervising professor prior to starting the project.
  

Substitutes for Courses

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Substitutes for Courses

Prerequisites

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Prerequisites

SDG: Sustainable Development Goals

4 Quality Education

6 Clean Water and Sanitation

7 Affordable and Clean Energy

8 Decent Work and Economic Growth

9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

13 Climate Action

17 Partnerships for the Goals

FURTHER INFORMATION

Further Information

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Upon setup of course, contact the course-responsible teacher (currently, Prof. Mathias Groth, mathias.groth@aalto.fi)

  MyCourses home page: https://mycourses.aalto.fi/course/search.php?search=PHYS-E0442

  Alternative for PHYS-E0441 Physics Special Assignment (if taking both, one of them can be elective studies).

  Mutually exclusive with course SCI.trai Training in the MSc degree.

  Company internship cannot be done at a university. Additionally, if doing a science-oriented project at a company like VTT, PHYS-E0441 is recommended. Contact the responsible teacher before proceeding with this course.

  Teaching Language : English

  Teaching Period : 2022-2023 Autumn I - Summer
  2023-2024 Autumn I - Summer

  Enrollment :

  Contact the responsible teacher.

Details on the schedule

• applies in this implementation

  The following application procedure is suggested:

  • The student contacts the company at which the internship is performed, identifies the topic, methods to be used and the company-based instructor.
  
  
  • The student compiles the following information in two PowerPoint slides:
    • Title slide: name of the project, starting and end date of the project, name of the student, student number, name of the company, name of the company-based instructor, e-mail address of the company-based instructor.
      
    • First data slide: motivation of the project, including a conceptual picture of the to-be-accomplished tasks, methods.
      
    • The student contacts the course-responsible PHYS professor providing the above information.
    • Upon approval of the project, the student enrolls into PHYS-E0442 on Sisu.
  • Procedure of the 12-week course:
    • Prior to starting the course: the student discusses and arranges the internship with the company, and provides the project information, title slide and motivation slide to the course-responsible teacher (see above).
      
    • Week 5-6: the student provides a 4-5 slide PowerPoint presentation to the PHYS professor with the first results of the project and an updated time line of completing the project. The title and motivational slides may be copied over from the introduction.
    • Week 11: the student provides a 8-10 slide PowerPoint presentation to the PHYS professor with the final results and conclusions of the project, and the status of the report.
      
    • Week 12: the student provides a written report of up to 20 pages to the PHYS professor. If the student opts for cross-reading and correcting the report by the PHYS professor, the report must be submitted by the end of week 10.
  
  

Description