Opportunities to solve real-world problems - collaboratively or individually – can create significant impact on the education and career goals of students. By providing such opportunities to students, research groups and businesses can also benefit significantly. However, several factors and strategies play a role in developing a mutually beneficial synergy between the students and research groups (or businesses). Adopting a disciplined agile approach for student engagement and retention is one such strategy. In this paper we discuss our experiences in engaging students in research and development through the aforementioned approach. Some lessons learnt and recommendations are also included in the paper.
