As a graduate of The Queen’s University Belfast I was delighted to deliver the Warden’s Lecture ‘Engineering the Future‘ on board HMS Belfast berthed on the River Thames. 

‘Engineering the Future‘, a future which presents us with significant societal challenges such as food production, climate change, cybersecurity, improved healthcare, greener transport,  and highlights the role of engineering in finding solutions to these issues impacting every country.

Worldwide the pace of technology continues to increase along with global competitiveness, driving the ambitions of nations.  Realising the value of innovation to engineer the future requires an ecosystem which includes technical and engineering know how, management expertise, manufacturing capability, financial investment, market opportunity, IP protection – to name some of the entities.  UK national funding structures need to reflect this increased complexity and adopt an updated approach to innovation which recognises the requirement for partnerships, mission driven and  integrated approaches to ‘Engineering the Future’.

Dolores Byrne

Middle Warden, The Worshipful Company of Engineers