Engineers Worldwide Today are Building a Sustainable Tomorrow

World Federation of Engineering Organizations

World Federation of Engineering Organizations

From WFEO correspondent Christine Tan

PARIS, March 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Engineering has been an necessary career, serving to to sort out main points resembling poverty discount, local weather resilience, public well being and sustainable growth. "The foremost problem facing the world today is sustaining human development and preserving the planet. Whenever there is a problem, there is a need for engineering solutions," says Gong Ke, President of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO).

On 4th March 2021, the annual World Engineering Day (WED) will convene underneath the auspices of UNESCO. Because the UNESCO Director-Normal, Ms. Audrey Azoulay explains, WED will "celebrate the achievements of engineers and their contributions to sustainability and a better quality of life for all." This yr, WED welcomes the excessive patronage of Emmanuel Macron, President of France and coincides with the launch of the second UNESCO engineering report, "Engineering for Sustainable Development" with UNESCO's companions, the WFEO, the Chinese language Academy of Engineering (CAE), Tsinghua College, and the Worldwide Centre of Engineering Training (ICEE), amongst many others. Representatives from over 10 completely different nations, genders and age teams from youths to adults, will communicate at WED 2021. As well as, many extra numerous engineering communities will take part over 50 WED occasions held concurrently in each continent world wide.

The WFEO is represented by over 100 nationwide engineering establishments and 30 million engineers globally, main the WED initiative to extend worldwide recognition of the necessary function of engineering in accelerating the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Growth Targets (SDGs). Engineering training and capability constructing are keys to enabling the SDGs. Politicians can foster them; institutional buyers can fund them; however solely engineers can construct them.

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"World Engineering Day is an opportunity to recognize the important work that engineers need to do, in addressing climate change and developing technologies for a carbon free economy. It is engineering innovations that will achieve this goal. Engineers will ensure that cities are cleaner, more sustainable, smarter and livable. And importantly, engineers will ensure that everyone has safe clean accessible water, sanitation systems and affordable and reliable energy", says Marlene Kanga, Previous Nationwide President of Engineers Australia and the Rapid Previous President of WFEO.

Calling for extra international motion from a number of stakeholder teams, "We hope that this new UNESCO engineering report will help stakeholders from government, industry and academia articulate the value of engineering, inspire ideas to improve and innovate engineering, and help achieve the full potential of engineering to benefit the sustainable development of humankind and planet Earth," says Zhou Ji, Honorary Chairman of the Governing Board of the CAE and Co-chair of the Advisory Board of ICEE.

The arrival of the Fourth Industrial Revolution has introduced technological advances in synthetic intelligence, massive information, Web of Issues and blockchain, remodeling the methods folks dwell and work together with their bodily, organic and digital house. "These transformations can be seen in every field of engineering, profoundly affecting industrial systems, production and governance," says Audrey Azoulay.

Engineering improvements are growing quickly and these international efforts are important for fixing present challenges and constructing a greater future for humankind. Up to now yr, engineers have been within the highlight for his or her artistic options to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. Marlene Kanga notes that within the yr following the coronavirus pandemic, the theme of the WED celebrations in 2021, Engineering for a wholesome planet, "acknowledges the work of engineers and engineering in the search for a new vaccine, using artificial intelligence and data analysis in the process. Advanced manufacturing technologies such as 3D printing has been used in the manufacture of personal protective equipment. Refrigeration technologies and transportation and logistics innovations are being used to transport vaccines to every corner of the earth. This is truly a year where the world could not exist without engineering."

"The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the call for urgent action, while affirming the relevance of engineering to sustainable development," observes Gong Ke. He additionally inspired extra affirmative motion within the engineering neighborhood, saying that "engineering should play a more proactive role in the fight against COVID-19 and in the pursuit of a truly transformative recovery to build back better."

Audrey Azoulay raised a urgent concern on the pressure that the pandemic has positioned on engineering training. "To train our best engineers to tackle these global challenges, we need young people to study mathematics and science from an early age; however, the global pandemic has led to the closure of educational institutions for 1.5 billion learners worldwide - more than 90% of the world's school population - with dire consequences for their education."

Thus, it's crucial for engineers to innovate on engineering training, curricula, new instructing strategies and training supply. "Training engineers for the implementation of the SDGs requires not only new competencies, including creative learning and thinking, complex problem-solving, interdisciplinary and international cooperation, and a code of ethics, it also demands a change in engineering education itself," says Jose Vieira, President-Elect of WFEO.

Marlene Kanga additionally emphasised the significance of encouraging all younger folks, girls and boys, to think about engineering as a profession and to encourage them on this alternative. She says, "if you want to change the world, become an engineer."

"At present, however, resources for engineering science and technology and engineering education are not equitably distributed. Developing countries and regions, in particular, are lacking in qualified engineers and engineering resources. We therefore urge the global engineering community to work to establish a more equitable, inclusive, developmental and mutually beneficial world for all, by working closely with government, industry and academia; by empowering engineering capacity-building in disadvantaged regions; and by tackling global challenges through joint efforts," says Zhou Ji, calling consideration to the gaps in assets distribution and ensuring that nobody is left behind.

One necessary international useful resource is water. "Water, as a prerequisite for life, assumes a special focus in terms of sustainable development. The close relationship between human health and the well-being of communities with access to clean water is a determining factor for the economic and social development of society," says Jose Vieira. Important progress in water and environmental engineering have led to greener applied sciences and extra sustainable growth of our planet.

"Engineering itself needs a transformation to be more innovative, inclusive, cooperative and responsible," says Gong Ke, "The engineering report to be released is a new report published 10 years after the first landmark engineering report of UNESCO, aiming to increase the public awareness of the crucial role of engineers and engineering in achieving every one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals; to call for global collaboration among governments, industries and civil society; to promote engineering innovations, and to transform the engineering profession with a stronger capacity to respond to the pressing challenges faced by humankind and the planet; and to shape a peaceful, prosperous, inclusive and sustainable world for all people with no one left behind, encouraging more collaboration and sharing of engineering resources at a global level."

In the end, WED goals to advertise engineering consciousness, range, collaboration, training and assets sharing, with a typical international purpose to attain the SDGs by 2030.

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Christine Tan, PhD CEng FIET is a Royal Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the Establishment of Engineering and Expertise UK, and Professor of Science and Expertise Training at Fujian Regular College China. She is an energetic science author and STEM outreach volunteer.

Media contact
World Federation of Engineering Organizations
Maison de l'Unesco, 1 rue Miollis, 75015 Paris, France
Contact Individual: Wang Guanyi
Tele: +33 1 45 68 48 47
Web site: http://www.wfeo.org/

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