Creativity, Invention, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, connected in theory separated in practice: - Can we strengthen engineering education by understanding the overlaps and the differences between the four concepts in an educational context

During the past two decades innovation and entrepreneurship have been dedicated much attention both politically and in an educational context across multiple disciplines including engineering. Skills and competences developed with in these fields are believed to be essential for continues social and economic prosperity, which is why many governments support innovation and entrepreneurship promoting activities i.e. education.

But are we getting the most out of the attention and resources dedicated for this in an engineering education context? Though seemingly connected and linked with creativity, innovation education and entrepreneurship education are most commonly separated in practice and research. Furthermore, technical inventions are essential in all engineering educations, but not always put in the context of innovation or entrepreneurship education, though this is important in order to understand how inventions can create value for the society and not just explore and challenge technical boundaries.

So are we, as educational institutes providing our students with the best possible education within theses fields? The scope of this study is to get a better understanding of the four concepts, creativity, invention, innovation and entrepreneurship, in theory and in the practice of engineering education.

With this purpose our research question is; How are the concepts of creativity, invention, innovation and entrepreneurship defined in theory and in the practice of engineering education in Denmark? Therefore, this study outlines, compares and contrasts theoretical definitions of the terms; creativity, invention, innovation and entrepreneurship, based on a literature review.

Furthermore empirical data was collected from Engineering Programs at five higher educational institutes in Denmark and at a workshop at the Exploring Teaching for Active Learning in Engineering Education 2017 conference (ETALEE 2017) to study how the terms are used in practice in Danish engineering education.