Engineering X Safer Complex Systems

In 2019, Lloyd’s Register Foundation invested £15 million with the Royal Academy of Engineering to help establish Engineering X. Active in over 35 countries, Engineering X tackles global safety and sustainability challenges and promotes the contribution of systems approaches engineering to solve them.

Lloyd’s Register Foundation sponsors three programmes with Engineering X, each with a unique strategic vision and governance structure. The Safer Complex Systems programme aims to enhance the safety of complex infrastructure systems globally by encouraging more effective governance and deploying systems approaches.

The Safer Complex Systems programme aims to achieve long-term impact through a multi-year plan: 

• Phase 1: Learn
  • Listening to a diverse expert community to develop an understanding of the landscape of safer complex systems, to identify what practical change is needed and who can help make it happen.
• Phase 2: Build
  • Building a diverse community and equip them with educational resources and mechanisms to support knowledge sharing and collaboration so they can advocate for and effect change.   
• Phase 3: Lead
  • Engineering profession is recognised as thought leaders on safety in complex systems, and play a significant role in supporting other professions and helping to shape global agenda.

This strategy has been put into practice through various activities, including holding multi-stakeholder workshops between Colombian and international UK partners to understand the barriers and opportunities to increasing access to sustainable energy in Colombia, with a particular focus on including marginalised voices. Key findings from this workshop are available on the Engineering X website.