In the US 300,000 firms export goods (2011). 98% are SMEs. SMEs struggle to update operations and systems (due to limited resources). 60,000 engineers graduate every year; the majority have difficulty finding jobs due to lack of relevant experience.
How about creating projects which pair college interns with SME's to address specific manufacturing or business operations projects?
With proper structure and guidance, these students produce an incredible amount of work at lower cost and faster than SMEs might be able to do on their own. The interns get meaningful business experience and get paid; the companies get valuable work at affordable costs, universities serve as the source for staffing
I proved the idea last year with 14 college interns on an ERP implementation.