Engineering never been so broad

Regular readers will know these trips are mostly associated with the Leadership in Engineering Fellowship, LIF, programme of the Royal Academy of Engineering, funded by the Newton Fund, whose steering group I have the honour and privilege to chair,

Is it worth it? The LIF programme started as the brainchild of one of the Academy’s new recruits from NESTA and currently works with all 16 countries eligible for UK overseas development aid.

Annual funding now totals some £5m each year, half from the UK and the other half from the participating country.

So the programme involves a massive network of government people, diplomatic officials, science and education authorities and agencies orchestrated by a small but dedicated team at the RAE and their partners FarStar and Oxentia. It also takes the time and energy of many expert volunteers, Academy Fellows like me but also others with expertise and knowledge to share.

There is one lesson we have learned in the past 20 years; entrepreneurs come from all backgrounds, but they all prefer to learn from other entrepreneurs from whatever background!

This one piece of learning has transformed the UK (not least Northern Ireland) from a place that did science for others to exploit to a growing innovation network that others want to join.

The scope of science and engineering has never been so broad, from energy to education, from structures to sustainability.

Cybersecurity and AI are now essential to make sense of our world of data and transactions.

Together they contribute to most of what makes the life possible for the seven billion or so human beings on earth today.

However good the science, the discovery or the invention, it only qualifies to be an innovation if simultaneously it is technically feasible, cost-effective and solves a timely problem. Creativity in every discipline is needed in this endeavour. Our thesis in LIF is that if someone has the passion to innovate, we and our partners can teach them what and who they need to know.

Hence our thousand-strong LIF alumni holds the potential to shake up virtually every industry in all corners of the world. They have already won some $80m investments to make their ideas a reality. Examples include providing potable water and nutrition where before there was none; effective adaptations to reduce and cope with climate change and the telecommunication processes to enable solutions to reach the people who need them.