Master's Degree in Digital Innovation

SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT UPM (EXIT)

General Information

The Master Thesis consists on the individual execution of an integral project, in which the competencies acquired during the master are demonstrated. The Master Thesis should consist of a written dissertation completed by the Master's degree candidate. The thesis document should have a clear structure and properly describe, justify and present the work done. The Master Thesis supervisor shall guide the student to ensure the right contents and format of the work.
The Master Thesis document must be written and defended in English.
Students will choose a thesis topic and submit the thesis proposal describing the work to be done. The name and the web of the company/institution and its main business must be presented in one paragraph.
The Master Coordinator will approve and assign a Master Thesis Supervisor. The Coordinator may ask for further details on the proposal.

The completion of the Master Thesis is a three-phase process:

• Phase 1: Choice of topic and supervisor
• Phase 2: Completion of Master Thesis
• Phase 3: Defense of Master Thesis

The main tasks to be completed in each of these phases are briefly outlined below.

Phase 1: Choice of topic and assignment of supervisor
Master Thesis shall be supervised by a professor (UPM academic staff), from the Master's programme, with co-supervision by another Professor.
Students must submit in the Moodle of the course a short thesis proposal (1-2 pages containing thesis objective/s, planning, methodology and expected results).

Phase 2: Completion of Master Thesis
The Master Thesis shall be supervised by a professor (UPM academic staff) from the Master's programme.
Minor restrictions have been imposed regarding the format and lenght of the Master Thesis, being the Master Thesis director whom shall stablish them depending on the nature and contents of the work. Nevertheless, it is important to respect the following considerations:

• be written in English.
• page size shall be A4.
• the document must use the provided template.
• a minimum of 50 pages is requested

Phase 3: Defense of Master Thesis
UPM Students shall defend their Master Thesis at the date established at the examination timetable.
Students shall defend their Master Thesis individually in a public oral hearing before a board appointed by the Coordinator of the programme.
The Board shall follow the following instructions, which rule the protocol for defending the Master Thesis:

1. Once the Board designed by the Coordinator of the programme has been constituted, its Secretary shall open the public session and shall call the first canditate.
2. The Secretary of the Board shall deliver among the other two Board members the Rubric-Based Assessment Document for Master's Final Thesis, also provided to him/her. They shall evaluate the Master Thesis guided by that document.
3. Once the candidate is ready, the Board President shall announce the beginning of the defense, reading the title of the work, the name of the author and its directors.
4. The student shall deliver a 20 minutes oral presentation, mainly focused on showing the nature and results of the work to the Board.
5. After the student presentation, the Board President shall give way to the Board question turn. Each Board member shall be able to raise any question, query, clarification or objection that they like, to which the student shall have to give proper and convincing responses.
6. Once the Board considers the question turn over, the student shall be invited to leave and each Board member shall individually complete the rubric-based assessment document, shall sign it and shall hand it back to the Board Secretary, which shall guard it from that moment on.
7. Next, the Board Secretary shall call the next candidate, if there would be any, following the same procedure like with the previous candidate.
8. When the last Thesis defense is finished, the Board President shall consider finished the public session and shall inform that the evaluation results will be published in the next days.
9. The Board Secretary shall collect the signatures of the Board members in the Document of Defense of the Master Thesis, together with the observations the Board shall consider opportune to transmit to the Academic Commission.
10. The Board Secretary shall deliver to the Master Secretary all the rubric-based assessment documents produced and the Document of defense of the Master Thesis of the session.

After receiving all the evaluations from the directors, co-directors and Board members for each Master Thesis defended in the same examination session, the final grades shall be published. From this point on, the same procedure as for any other course shall be followed.

FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT UPM (ENTRY)

Although the student will defend the Master Thesis publicy according to the EXIT University procedure, they have to accomplish as well some UPM requirements. A Master Thesis shall be written sumarizing the main goals and results of the work carried out. All students must met UPM requirements to gain our official Master Programme.

Minor restrictions have been imposed regarding the format and lenght of the Master Thesis, being the Master Thesis director whom shall stablish them depending on the nature and contents of the work. Nevertheless, it is important to respect the following considerations:

• be written in English.
• page size shall be A4.
• the document must use the provided template.
• a minimum of 50 pages is requested

Please find below a guideline about the main tasks to be accomplished:

Task 1
Students must submit a short thesis proposal (1-2 pages containing thesis objective/s, planning, methodology and expected results).  After receiving all proposals, the student will be assigned a UPM thesis supervisor. This supervisor will only review the work done but final decisions on your work will be made by your EXIT supervisor.

Task 2
Once the student has defended and submitted the master tesis work at the exit university and once the work is revised by the UPM supervisor, the student must submit the following documents:

• Master Thesis document in pdf format using UPM Master Thesis Template available in the Moodle of the course. Documents without UPM format won't be accepted.
• Confidentiality/no-confidentiality agreement, signed by the student and the UPM supervisor.
• Letter of authorization (optional). In order to increase the visibility of the student work, we strongly encourage its publication in the UPM Digital Library. The student keeps its authoring rights on the work and it can be referenced and accessed from the web. So, if the student want to authorize the publication of the work, they must submit as well the signed "letter of authorization".
• Evaluation Report, signed and stamped by the academic coordinator at the exit university

Competences and learning outcomes

Competences

• CB08:To know how to evaluate and select the proper scientific theory and the precise methodology of their fields of study, and be able to integrate knowledge, to identify the consequences and make judgments based on incomplete or limited information  including, where necessary and relevant, a reflection on the social, ethical, and intergenerational responsibility linked to the solution proposed in each case by applying their knowledge and judgments.
• CB09:To know how to convey in a clear and unambiguous way to a specialized or not audience, results and conclusions from scientific and technological research and or from the most advanced innovation field, as well as the fundamentals more relevant and latest reasons supporting them.
• CG1: To be able to predict and control the evolution of complex situations through the development of new and innovative methodologies of work adapted to the particular scientific/research, technological or professional area, mostly multidisciplinary, in which the activity is developed. CEIT4 is covered in I & E
• CG2: To develop sufficient autonomy to participate in research projects and scientific or technological collaborations within their thematic scope exploring and generating new ideas systematically in interdisciplinary contexts and, in such a case, with a high component of knowledge transfer.
• CG3: The ability to use the English language in a competent way, i.e., with training for work and study complex tasks.
• CG5: To understand the principles of the project management, risk and change, as well as have the ability to apply methodologies and processes to manage projects and mitigate risks.
• CG6: To be able to manage information.

Learning outcomes

After taking the subject the students will be able to:

• Propose a justified solution to a real problem in a business working environment, giving answer to the wishes and needs of a consumer or customer in the frame of what technology can offer,  either complex or ill-defined, belonging to a new or emerging area, requiring the development of new and original approaches or methods, and/or multidisciplinary, justified in a qualitative and quantitative manner.
• Materialize the proposed solution to a problem in terms of code, prototype, reports, proof of concept, analysis, design and/or documentation, framing it into a real business environment.
• Apply knowledge, techniques, models and tools for innovation and entrepreneurship management to the transformation of an innovation into a viable commercial solution.
• Present and defend the proposed solution to a given problem in a clear manner without ambiguities in front of both a specialized and non-specialized audience.