Innovation and creativity in extension projects: the role of art in UTFPR engineering courses

Training the potentially creative engineer is a demand on the job market and a challenge for higher education institutions. From a case study and respective qualitative approach, we investigate the role of art in the creative process, in engineering courses at the Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR), as a factor of technological innovation. Ten students have participated in the study (n = 5 Computer Engineering and n = 5 Mechanical Engineering); 10 teachers (n = 5 Computing and n = 5 Mechanics); Dean of UTFPR (n = 1) and entrepreneurs/employers (n = 4). In the analysis and discussion of results, based on semi-structured interviews, we have chosen Content Analysis and Moscovici's Theory of Social Representations (1978). Among the main conclusions, we highlight the valorization of creative abilities, of interpersonal/communicative relationship, fundamental competences in the formation of the engineer and that the role of art in engineering is to enhance creativity and constitute it as a factor of technological innovation. We add to the technological approach the premises and conceptual matrix related to lifelong education and social responsibility in the framework of contemporary education and the resulting sustainable development.