Imagineering Engineering Education: Learnings from the Case of Disney and Applications to Industry 5.0

• Main Authors: Recto, King Harold A, Consignado, Juan Jeffrey, Neyra, Romano Q
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2022
• Subjects: Imagineering; Engineering Education; Industry 5.0; Disney; Competencies; Engineering; Physical Sciences and Mathematics
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/ecce-faculty-pubs/178; https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/ecce-faculty-pubs/article/1172/viewcontent/9_Recto_Consignado_Neyra_Imagineering.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

With a market valuation of $238.9 billion, Walt Disney is among the most prosperous and influential entertainment corporations in the world. Being a company that puts high premium on creativity, it pioneered the concept of Imagineering and technology-based projects such as the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). As Industry 5.0 transforms the society, the demand for Imagineering is felt but Imagineers are just produced on-the-job and may not be very efficient. To understand Imagineering better, the authors embarked on a case study of where it began, in the Walt Disney Company. This technique was also used to identify Disney's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Three different courses of action were suggested:(1) creating career development programs for Imagineering professionals; (2) creating the company's own training system and development division; and (3) working with engineering schools to help students get jobs in the field of Imagineering. The third option was picked after weighing the benefits and drawbacks of each potential course of action. This is due to the fact that these schools already have academic programs that have been well researched and more Imagineering professionals who can teach. What more, they have comprehensive approach to producing Imagineering students. In pursuing the third option, its applicability to Industry 5.0 was also taken into consideration. Additionally, a thorough two-year action plan was created. This commences with a search for partner engineering institutions and also includes time-bound tasks to be completed by particular departments and executives of the corporation and/or their partner institution within a specific budget. It ends with a review of the academic curriculum and a discussion of a particular budget.