Second Year

CAS 4 Applied Technology: R&D and Innovation

CAS 4 is required for all MAS participants. It provides training on R&D organization and processes as well as how to work with technical experts and lead interdisciplinary and cross-functional technology projects. Thus, it prepares participants to work more effectively with the various technical departments found in most companies, such as IT, engineering, production and R&D groups. 

This CAS also prepares participants for the final stage of the MAS, when participants will perform an experimental project and write their Master’s thesis.

Experimental Project

In the experimental project, participants will develop a prototype and transfer all their learnings from the preceding CAS modules into practice - putting the applied into Applied Technology.  
The goal is to give all participants a wide range of hands-on experiences in hardware and software, touching every aspect of an R&D project. Whether you begin with your own concept or an existing example, we will guide you through the process of designing a circuit and fabricating a PCB, creating a CAD design and 3D-printing it, assembling and soldering components, programming embedded software and testing it. In the end, you will take home a working prototype of your own design. The experimental project is done over a period of 14 weeks and requires a workload of 250 to 300 hours including 25 total hours in a lab environment, and 200-250 hours of individual learning and design of prototypes. 

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Master's Thesis

Participants will prepare an independent Master’s thesis proposing a new application of a technology to solve a real world business problem.

The problem and technology evaluated are freely selectable, but must be approved in advance by the thesis supervisor. Although the thesis may incorporate policy, market information or other types of background material to provide context, the final product must be sufficiently rigorous from a science and technology perspective.

The thesis should be integrative of the material and skills learned during the programme and, therefore, planning for the thesis begins during CAS 4 in conjunction with preparations for the experimental project.