Foreword

This review of global engineering capability is the first formal output of Engineering X, a £15 million funding partnership and international collaboration between the Royal Academy of Engineering and Lloyd’s Register Foundation. Engineering X aims to bring together some of the world’s leading problem-solvers to address the great challenges of our age, to share best practice, explore new technologies, educate and train the next generation of engineers, build capacity, improve safety and deliver impact.

Engineers have always played a pivotal role in driving economic and social development and continue to do so by designing and delivering safe systems that facilitate education and healthcare, enhance quality of life and safeguard critical infrastructure.

One strand of the Engineering X programme focuses on ensuring that engineering skills are fostered and deployed appropriately where they are most needed. In order to do that effectively it is necessary to establish a baseline of current skills and capability, which this review sets out to assess.

By sharing how countries are faring in building the necessary technical capacity to tackle some of the evolving and complex challenges they face, our hope is that this review will contribute towards a better understanding of the world’s current engineering capabilities, the likely future demands for engineering and the skills required by engineers to meet them safely.

In the course of compiling the review we discovered significant issues with the collection and reporting of accurate data in different countries. We invite our network of contacts around the world to join the Community of Practice being formed around this report to explore how we can build on this evidence to develop a fuller picture with more instructive, global examples of how engineering can further drive safer, more sustainable development.

We are grateful to the Economist Intelligence Unit for compiling the review. We also thank our partners at the Foundation for their continued support and guidance and look forward to working with them and other allies to address some of the most pressing safety and education challenges highlighted by the report.

Professor Peter Goodhew CBE FREng, Chair of the Engineering skills where they are most needed programme board