Empowering Future Innovators: A TRIZ-Integrated Design Thinking Approach to Engineering Prototyping and Entrepreneurship in Oman

The onset of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) introduced advanced technologies that engineering specialists could use to their benefit. This study sets out to explore if the engineering curriculum, as well as the engineering pedagogy, has had a chance for a facelift. Integrating technologies in design-thinking is seen as enhancing graduates’ skills in effectively incorporating technologies into engineering innovations. A survey data involving 200 third and fourth-year engineering graduates at the College of Engineering (CoE), National University of Science & Technology (NUST), Oman, were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to study the relationship between students’ self-perception of Integrated Design Thinking, Innovation Capabilities, Systematic Invention, and self-reported familiarity and the Knowledge of Engineering Innovation Tools, and self-confidence in Prototyping. The findings reflect a positive relationship between the observed variable and Prototyping, thus consolidating the necessity for an educational framework integrating TRIZ, design thinking, and technology through pedagogy and assessments. In this way, universities can guarantee that graduates cultivate innovation capabilities, entrepreneurial mindset and proficiency in rapid prototyping and solution enhancement. Introducing engineering students to design and innovation requires a targeted method that aligns with best practices and emerging technologies to apply them in real problem-solving. This study evaluates the critical role of human-centered design thinking, aligned with the technology-centered TRIZ, in honing the predictive design approach to prepare the engineers of tomorrow through a transformation in pedagogy and assessments. This study on TRIZ-Integrated Design Thinking is the first in Oman and is expected to contribute to broader research involving other disciplines and stakeholders.