Sustainable Approaches to the Management of Innovation and Technology in Engineering (SAMITE II)

Abstract

Engineering gives rise to some of the most vibrant and fast-paced industries in the world; yet, these industries and innovations can exact a heavy price, impacting people and the planet in the procurement of profits. Growing awareness of environmental issues and concerns over the cumulative environmental impact of extraction, manufacturing and transport have provoked increasing demands for accountability and responsibility; there is a groundswell of opinion that industries must be more transparent. The innovation of new, more sustainable practices cannot be done in isolation: practitioners must work with other professionals, if the needs of all stakeholders are to be respected and embraced. To address contemporary challenges and create a more sustainable world, graduates must know whom to speak with, why and about what. As a key step towards this, we present a framework to provide a holistic perspective on the intersections of the various value chains that obtain in engineering, manufacturing and product development; this framework makes explicit the many paths through which products and services are created and developed, through what we term ‘innovation trajectories’; and the (artificial and natural) contexts from which these draw; this in turn helps to identify key partners from professions and stakeholder groups. Knowing whom one needs to engage with and why directly supports softer skills that are an essential foundation of an effective professional engineering practice. Thus, we also consider this framework a useful mechanism to inform the discussion around employability and professional competence.

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