This course applies interdisciplinary engineering systems design and systems engineering principles to the design and re-design of socio-technical systems. The course emphasises systems thinking, systems analysis, systems architecture and systems design to address technical, social, organisational, and policy requirements; in connection also to UN’s sustainable development goals. The socio-technical systems in focus are manifold and may range from a hospital ward, inter-company collaborations, eldercare, to examples such as major infrastructure investments (e.g. multimodal transportation networks, energy generation and distribution systems, or integrated aerospace systems). As part of the course, the students will design/re-design a socio-technical engineering system.

Learning objectives

A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to:
Analyse socio-technical engineering systems and select relevant perspectives
Define and model socio-technical engineering systems
Articulate multi-dimensional requirements of engineering systems
Perform analyses to identify requirement conflicts and define possible design solutions
Synthesise design ideas and concepts
Analyse and re-design existing systems in order to optimise and improve selected attributes
Explain the practical, complex execution of system-level design processes and the students own role within these processes
Create and communicate design solutions
Argue for the application of the design solution within context
Provide reflected criticism of others’ design processes and results
Critically evaluate, select and use AI tools to increase productivity of engineering design processes
Carry out a team design project and define own team role

Content
Project work focuses on the development of a socio-technical engineering system. This includes technical, service, organisational, process and policy aspects and overall system integration.

The project should cover the following aspects:

– system-oriented analysis of the current state
– definition of multi-dimensional requirements from a technical, service, organisational and policy perspective and analysis & discussion of requirement conflicts
– interdisciplinary design and product development processes initiated according to an enterprise or client’s strategies and objectives, using the clients knowledge and competencies
– exploration of design alternatives based on advanced domain knowledge
– simulation or pilot implementation of proposed design solution
– customization of design process and reflection on your role as a designer

Kontaktperson: 
Josef Oehmen, Lektor