It's an engineering _project_, not a business plan.
It dosent hurt at all if an engineering project also converts into a product or service around which a business plan can be made.
Or perhaps you want be one of these guys: http://www.google.com/search?q=larry+page who had access to a vast academic network for their project.
You don't always need a vast resource to develop a product. The larry page link is irrelevant to this discussion.
And that would be for when OP wants to go into business and impress
customers >and/or VC.
A product is developed out of an idea or a need for providing better services keeping in mind at the same time that a good revenue can be generated. Impressing customers and VC's is secondary. You are making all irrelevant statements considering that they are looking for ideas for a project.