What stage of the engineering design process involves investing a large amount of resources towards turning a design concept into reality?

The stage of the engineering design process that involves investing a large amount of resources into turning a design concept into reality is the implementation phase. During this phase, the focus shifts from theoretical development and planning to actual execution. Resources such as funding, materials, manpower, and time are allocated to build, test, and refine the prototype or final product.

Implementation encompasses several critical activities including detailed design, fabrication, and testing. It is the culmination of previous stages, where ideas and strategies developed in earlier phases are put into action. This stage is crucial because it transforms concepts into tangible solutions, allowing engineers to evaluate how well their designs meet the initial requirements and objectives.

In contrast, the research phase is primarily concerned with gathering information and understanding the problem environment, which does involve some resource investment, but not to the extent seen in implementation. Brainstorming focuses on generating a broad range of ideas and creative solutions without any concrete application, while identifying the problem is about defining the issue that the engineering efforts are aimed at solving, which also requires minimal resource allocation compared to implementation.