Product Development, MSc

Product development master's programme at Chalmers

Evolution never stops and customer expectations on products continue to grow. At the same time, resource consumption for both development and production are expected to decrease to ensure  profitable business and a sustainable society.

Specifically, individual companies want to increase their competitive advantage by offering products that stand out from the competition. Moreover, modern development work is typically characterised by multi-disciplinary, international teamwork, as well as efforts to simultaneously consider several issues related to the product and its life cycle.

Product development is a core industrial activity that addresses all of these aspects – it is a multidisciplinary process of identifying and envisaging the needs of the user, company and society, and bringing those needs to life.

The programme is aimed at students with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, automation and mechatronics, industrial economics, industrial design or an equivalent degree, and who is ambitious to help develop the next generation of outstanding product offers.

International students are greatly appreciated, especially during teamwork activities, since they contribute unique experiences and enriching viewpoints. International students typically appreciate the open study climate and easy access to teachers and professors.

Students of this programme acquire knowledge and practical skills to master multi-disciplinary product development while taking all phases of the product life cycle into consideration. The course called “Product Development Project” is the most central part of the programme. Student teams plan and execute a product development project to solve an industrial problem in close collaboration with a partnered company.

Students are also given the opportunity to enrich their knowledge in business development, product innovation and manufacturing, which are the domains most related  to product development. Thus, a master’s degree in product development  provides a broad competence base, which is suitable for developing a career in R&D for large corporations, business development, start-up entrepreneurship, consultant and research. The students have the opportunity to groom their interest by choosing courses offered from both technical and management areas.

Topics covered

The subjects of innovation and concept development are fundamental areas in the Product development master’s programme. The courses included in the programme plan handle topics such as production management and design.