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As the pace of technological change accelerates, no nation can afford to ease up on their efforts to conduct engineering in a safe and innovative way, according to research commissioned by the Royal Academy of Engineering and Lloyd’s Register Foundation as part of Engineering X, a new international collaboration that brings together some of the world’s leading problem-solvers to address the great challenges of our age. The report coincides with the first UN World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development on 4 March.
Prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the Global Engineering Capability Review measures the abilities of 99 countries to conduct key engineering activities in a safe and innovative way. It focuses on six measures of engineering capability around the world: the strength and sophistication of the country’s engineering industry, the availability and diversity of its engineering labour force, its knowledge base, built and digital infrastructure and safety standards.
In the global engineering index of 99 countries, the UK features in the top ten of just two categories — knowledge and safety standards. By contrast, Singapore is in the top ten in five out of the six categories and comes first under labour force, digital infrastructure and safety standards. The US leads the knowledge rankings, in stark contrast with its safety ranking.
The review aims to provide a baseline to help policymakers, educators and business executives understand their country’s relative engineering strengths and to identify and address capability gaps that are barriers to safe and sustainable development.
The review highlights examples of top performing countries:
The Economist Intelligence Unit was also asked to assess sectoral growth prospects across 20 countries to help policymakers identify potential areas to consider when designing policies that enhance domestic engineering capability. The review highlights some specific capability issues in six different countries, discussing the context and drivers of engineering capability gaps as well as initial thoughts on how to address them. These include:
Professor Peter Goodhew CBE FREng, Chair of the Engineering X Engineering skills where they are most needed Board, said: “We know that engineering offers an important lever by which countries around the world will be able to achieve sustainable development goals. This review is important because engineers and engineering cannot perform this role efficiently, effectively and safely without the appropriate infrastructures being in place, and this requires the shared understanding, cooperation and coordinated action of policymakers, educators, business executives and others.
“There is no one-size-fits all approach and countries struggle to address all the factors that can contribute to engineering strength and to develop a pipeline of engineering talent that will match their growing and diverse needs. Engineering X has ambitious goals to help. We hope the Global Engineering Capability Review will help countries to learn from the achievements of others and to benchmark their progress towards remedying natural, economic and social problems in a safe and sustainable way.”
Professor Richard Clegg FREng, Chief Executive of Lloyd’s Register Foundation, says: “Lloyd’s Register Foundation reduces risk and enhances the safety of the critical infrastructure that society relies upon. Engineers in countries around the world can support human livelihood and dignity, the improvement of systems and the avoidance of harm. But they can only do so if these same countries understand their own engineering strengths, address their weaknesses and acknowledge where there are new and emerging safety challenges to be overcome. Many of these safety challenges cannot be tackled by working alone. We are partnering with the Academy because they can help us build coalitions with willing partners all around the world.”
Conclusions and recommendations
Drawing on the evidence collected, the review offers two specific recommendations for international organisations along with governments, industry and the engineering community in all countries to support engineering skills for safe and sustainable development:
1. Strengthen the evidence base - Many countries struggle to collect and report accurate data on a variety of indicators that could support safe and innovative engineering.
2. Focus on quality, not quantity - Countries often face problems not in producing engineers but in producing high-quality engineers who are adequately trained.
Notes
1. Global Engineering Capability Review A report by the Economist Intelligence Unit ISBN 978-1-909327-48-1, Royal Academy of Engineering and Lloyd’s Register Foundation, February 2020 is available to view here.
2. Engineering X is a new international collaboration that brings together some of the world’s leading problem-solvers to address the great challenges of our age.
Our global network of expert engineers, academics and business leaders are working in partnership to share best practice, explore new technologies, educate and train the next generation of engineers, build capacity, improve safety and deliver impact.
The Engineering X community will bring together partners from around the world, building on a network of global alliances to tackle the most pressing engineering, safety and sustainability problems, and developing practical, sustainable and accessible solutions for the engineering profession worldwide.
3. Royal Academy of Engineering
As the UK’s national academy for engineering and technology, we bring together the most successful and talented engineers from academia and business – our Fellows – to advance and promote excellence in engineering for the benefit of society.
We harness their experience and expertise to provide independent advice to government, to deliver programmes that help exceptional engineering researchers and innovators realise their potential, to engage the public with engineering and to provide leadership for the profession.
We have three strategic priorities:
We bring together engineers, policy makers, entrepreneurs, business leaders, academics, educators and the public in pursuit of these goals.
Engineering is a global profession, so we work with partners across the world to advance engineering’s contribution to society on an international, as well as a national scale. www.raeng.org.uk
4. UN World Engineering Day: UNESCO, in close collaboration with its partner the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO) is hosting the inaugural celebration of UN World Engineering Day for sustainable development at UNESCO Headquarters on 4 March 2020, with linked events taking place around the world. https://worldengineeringday.net/