future of engineering
Have you seen the Sage Gateshead? You can love or loathe its aesthetics, but check the engineering details: how did they mould those shapes? Glass that cleans itself! Acoustics that can even make McFly sound good!
Has engineering just got cool? Great engineering constructions are suddenly art and they are suddenly inspiring. We marvel at our new football stadiums with their majestic cantilever stands, whilst the sweeping arch of the Millennium Bridge draws thousands to the quayside. If we can continue to develop creativity and imagination in our universities and colleges, then you can be sure that our future works will simply get even cooler.
Of course it’s not just our buildings and edifices that are engineered. It’s getting increasingly personal; the iPod is a tremendous feat of engineering (by the way, did you know the head of design at Apple is a Northumbria University graduate?); the next Xbox and Sony consoles will be high definition, and battle will soon be locked in the fight to become the digital hub of our home. In a couple of years time, as you wait to ride a hipped half pipe, what gadget are you going to want in your Santa Cruz backpack and will it impress the cute kid in the Emily Strange beanie? What’s more, are you going to be the one designing and engineering it?
So, you’re sorting the gear that we desire, but are we going to be able to enjoy it? With all the carbon being pumped into the atmosphere, are we going to be able to breathe? Will we be able to spend a steamy afternoon with the Chilli Peppers at a great open air gig, or will the hole in the ozone layer have consigned the outdoors to a night time only activity? Did you know that down on Teesside they are engineering solutions; clean hydrogen fuel cells; closed loop chemical plants and sequestration, processes that keep the carbon out of the air and turn it into something useful. Wind farms are appearing up and down the region, is the next step to take them offshore? Maybe wave and sub-sea tidal power, being researched in Blyth, holds the answer. How does the strap line: “be an engineer, save the world” sound? Could you be the person who comes up with a solution that turns the heat of Africa into a valued resource; power a continent and empower a continent?
Where should we be looking for the next great engineering achievements? In the movie Minority Report, Tom Cruise’s newspaper is a single sheet displaying dynamic stories. Enabled by nanotechnology, this fold-away digital paper is not fiction though; companies like Fujitsu plan to have it in production next year. Perhaps the next step is digital clothes; would you be the talk of the party if your t-shirt was playing the latest DVD release? Nanotechnology is one bright future for engineering and with our North East skills in chemicals, paints, research and design real opportunities could exist in this field.
What about ‘traditional’ engineering? It’s true that basic components and engineering skills are becoming increasingly commoditised and highly vulnerable to the cheap labour and production markets of China, India and the Far East. However, even here we can envisage opportunities. We have great experience and excellent high level skills; can we leverage them? Can we manage, design and add value to the overseas plants? Can we continue to manufacture specialist products, perhaps high grade steel from our Teesside furnaces, turbines for the wind farms, or innovative deep ocean technology?
The future of engineering will abound with exciting opportunities. Let’s get visionary and realise them.
written for the July / August edition of Informnorth (a North East regional magazine targeted at 16-24 year olds)
Has engineering just got cool? Great engineering constructions are suddenly art and they are suddenly inspiring. We marvel at our new football stadiums with their majestic cantilever stands, whilst the sweeping arch of the Millennium Bridge draws thousands to the quayside. If we can continue to develop creativity and imagination in our universities and colleges, then you can be sure that our future works will simply get even cooler.
Of course it’s not just our buildings and edifices that are engineered. It’s getting increasingly personal; the iPod is a tremendous feat of engineering (by the way, did you know the head of design at Apple is a Northumbria University graduate?); the next Xbox and Sony consoles will be high definition, and battle will soon be locked in the fight to become the digital hub of our home. In a couple of years time, as you wait to ride a hipped half pipe, what gadget are you going to want in your Santa Cruz backpack and will it impress the cute kid in the Emily Strange beanie? What’s more, are you going to be the one designing and engineering it?
So, you’re sorting the gear that we desire, but are we going to be able to enjoy it? With all the carbon being pumped into the atmosphere, are we going to be able to breathe? Will we be able to spend a steamy afternoon with the Chilli Peppers at a great open air gig, or will the hole in the ozone layer have consigned the outdoors to a night time only activity? Did you know that down on Teesside they are engineering solutions; clean hydrogen fuel cells; closed loop chemical plants and sequestration, processes that keep the carbon out of the air and turn it into something useful. Wind farms are appearing up and down the region, is the next step to take them offshore? Maybe wave and sub-sea tidal power, being researched in Blyth, holds the answer. How does the strap line: “be an engineer, save the world” sound? Could you be the person who comes up with a solution that turns the heat of Africa into a valued resource; power a continent and empower a continent?
Where should we be looking for the next great engineering achievements? In the movie Minority Report, Tom Cruise’s newspaper is a single sheet displaying dynamic stories. Enabled by nanotechnology, this fold-away digital paper is not fiction though; companies like Fujitsu plan to have it in production next year. Perhaps the next step is digital clothes; would you be the talk of the party if your t-shirt was playing the latest DVD release? Nanotechnology is one bright future for engineering and with our North East skills in chemicals, paints, research and design real opportunities could exist in this field.
What about ‘traditional’ engineering? It’s true that basic components and engineering skills are becoming increasingly commoditised and highly vulnerable to the cheap labour and production markets of China, India and the Far East. However, even here we can envisage opportunities. We have great experience and excellent high level skills; can we leverage them? Can we manage, design and add value to the overseas plants? Can we continue to manufacture specialist products, perhaps high grade steel from our Teesside furnaces, turbines for the wind farms, or innovative deep ocean technology?
The future of engineering will abound with exciting opportunities. Let’s get visionary and realise them.
written for the July / August edition of Informnorth (a North East regional magazine targeted at 16-24 year olds)
posted by Roger Coathup at 7:38 AM
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