Innovation for the development of products

Abstract

Colombia usually has been a commodities exporter country and a value-added products importer but, if this situation persists, not only the economic but also the technological gap will be maintained. Therefore, it is necessary to stress the need to innovate in the training of engineering students in design and product development, that is, to go beyond the simple extraction of raw materials to the transformation processes. To that end, this document proposes the use of not structured practices as an initial approach to develop early skills in product development. These investigative competences are strengthened and tested in the degree project, a requirement for the respective engineer´s degree. Three cases investigated are included as examples, the first is related to obtaining a natural dye from the flower of the Majagua tree, the second case in which, through the study of patents, the conditions for improving performance for the production of sodium  percarbonate are obtained and finally the conditions for obtaining an avocado oil gourmet type are determined.