Embedding Innovation in Engineering Education: An Iterative Approach to Curriculum Integration at Bachelor’s and Master’s Levels

Engineering education is increasingly required to prepare graduates who can address complex societal challenges by connecting technical expertise with innovation, sustainability, stakeholder needs, and value creation. This article examines how an iterative curriculum design process can support the progressive integration of innovation competencies across bachelor’s and master’s engineering education and identifies the design principles emerging from this process. The study employed an Educational Design Research approach, combined with a case study at the Faculty of Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Between 2022 and the 2025/2026 academic year, selected innovation modules were designed, implemented, assessed and revised in authentic engineering course contexts. The study resulted in a structured bachelor-to-master innovation pathway for students. The process supported integration by making innovation competencies explicit, testing selected modules in authentic course contexts, using implementation evidence to guide revision and organising the resulting content into a coherent curriculum pathway. The principal contribution is an eight-module framework organised into three clusters, complemented by a proposed pre-thesis course. The study also identifies four design principles: progressive sequencing, contextual adaptability, curricular alignment and iterative refinement. The findings show that a modular approach can make innovation competencies visible and teachable and support their progressive integration without requiring the immediate redesign of entire education programmes. These findings imply that the framework and design principles can provide a structured basis for integrating innovation-related learning within existing engineering programmes, while allowing adaptation to specific disciplinary, curricular and institutional contexts.