GLOBAL DESIGN COMPETITION: Enabling Creative and Innovative Digital Design

摘要

College graduates should be prepared to work in culturally diverse workplaces, work across national borders and understand global challenges. Engineering students seem to have fewer opportunities during their studies, than those in liberal arts and business, due to a very packed technical curriculum and sometimes the high cost of education. In the electrical and computer engineering, as the complexity of microelectronic systems is steadily increasing, universities must update their curricula to cope with the increased demands of research and development required in industry. By integrating Digital Design competitions into the undergraduate and graduate education, students are better prepared to enter the field of engineering and make more meaningful contributions to their firms at an earlier rate. According to published reports, looking at particular skills and attributes needed for engineers, top priorities in terms of future skills will be: practical applications, theoretical understanding and creativity and innovation. Trying to address the above mentioned issues, instructors at different universities in Europe, USA, China and India joined efforts and have integrated an annual Digital Design Competition open to students enrolled in Electrical and Computer Engineering and similar majors such as Electronics and Telecommunications, Computer Science, etc. This paper presents the results of organizing regional competitions in Europe, USA, China and India and the results of the First Global Digilent Design Competition, collocated with FPGAWorld conference in Munich, Germany. The logistics and challenges of the regional and global competitions, the results of the past editions and plans regarding the future of the regional and global competitions are presented. Evaluations of the competition and students' perceptions as an alternative learning experience were investigated through student surveys.