In its most basic form, engineering is “The branch of science and technology concerned with the design, building, and use of engines, machines, and structures, for reducing human effort with respect to each unique & specific need”  This highlights a very important fact that, creativity and innovation are an inherent part of engineering. Through the ages, be it the 20^th century, where engineering’s attention was on manufacturing physical capital and goods, automobiles, electrical infrastructure, electronics, advent of space technology, petrochemicals etc took place or the current 21^st century, where intellectual property and globalization of technology dominated by energy conversion, global communication, virtualisation, Artificial Intelligence etc. are taking place, the symbiotic relation between innovation and engineering has always been and will always be very eminent.

For innovation to be present in every engineer, innovation in engineering education itself is a prerequisite. There is a gap between the industry demand and the supply of this prerequisite by the college education which has to be reduced. The changes have to come from the grass root level.  The commitment of the engineering community must be towards a more creative based curriculum, replacing the conventional theory based class room study. In the context of India, a country with a billion possibilities and engineering potential, concepts like smart classrooms and integration of engineering curriculum with sustainability and innovation are still in a very nascent stage and need to be encouraged on a more massive scale.

There are strengths as well as weaknesses in the Indian technical education system.  For the immense rate at which India produces new technical manpower, the Knowledge Economy Index for the same is low. The Indian challenges in this context are diverse. Funding for research and development is lesser compared to the extent that the European and American Universities are investing. The conventional methodology that has been present in the Indian universities is hard to break with the prevailing perspective.

This paper addresses this issue and analyzes the best practices that have been successfully executed and are being followed in India. The analysis is carried out through a detailed case study of two Universities that have brought innovation into their educational system. A poll is to be conducted in context of the addressed theme to study the differences between conventional & innovation based learning amongst both student & faculty.

Keywords: Innovation, Engineering Education (EE), Research.