Bonuses up for Scientific and Technical Sector According to the Office of National Statistics £42 billion of bonuses were paid out in Britain for year ending March 2015. It is significant to note that the biggest sector fall was in the financial and insurance industries where there was a near 10% drop on the previous year. Meanwhile in the rest of this economy bonuses rose by 9.7% …… but the sector with the […]
If ever there was an indicator of the way UK media view engineering it could be seen in last Friday’s issue of the Daily Telegraph. A single page in the business section presented the year-end figures of two companies. AIM listed handbag maker Mulberry making £1.9m profit on a turnover of £110m, and FTSE250 WS Atkins the innovative engineering company making £122m profit on a revenue of £1.76bn. Which gets the most airspace? …. […]
This weekend I visited the Alexander McQueen fashion exhibition at the V&A in London. Creations of an untethered mind realised through immaculate craftsmanship. Well worth a visit! What’s that got to do with engineering you may ask? Well the highlight for me was the laser technology behind one particular exhibit. A hologram of Kate Moss in a flowing gown, that wafts around her in the wind. She appears from nowhere, and floats before you; […]
One of the great failings of the UK engineering community is its inability to communicate with the young. In trying to inspire schoolchildren it’s no good just encouraging them to study STEM subjects it’s equally important for them to understand the relevance of what they’re studying to society and a career in the future. This video created by Newcastle University in Australia is an excellent example of how to connect with teenagers, or in […]
Following the recent launch of iPhone 6 and iWatch Yahoo’s Tech Columnist Rob Walker took a tilt at Jony Ive’s video presentations. Now I know they’re high profile (and much mimicked) but we should be applauding Ive’s love of engineering and the way he underlines the skills of the Apple team, not belittling it. If only there were more such engineers around, particularly here in Ive’s home country the UK. What Jonathan underlines is that […]
If the world of public speaking is an indicator of public interests then women and engineering just don’t mix. Women Speakers has a roster of guest speakers upon which to call. 293 highly articulate women able to present and discuss diverse subjects across 109 categories – from art and history to gardening, education, fashion, health, business etc. Yet nowhere does an engineer or engineering feature. Granted there are commentators with a science background but their […]
Engineering envelops every aspect of our lives, yet here in Britain it is much undervalued by a huge percentage of the population. According to a study by the Robert Bosch Group only 23% of the young think Engineering is of any importance to our economy. So why aren’t the young, and girls in particular, being attracted into Engineering? Last year only 400 girls completed engineering apprenticeships, whilst 58,600 studied Health and Social Care. The image of engineers as greasy […]
The banking fraternity’s casino culture destroyed any true balance of reward for effort. It created a get rich culture that imploded. In this humorous yet serious clip Stephen Bayley argues that we must return to a society that understands and values engineering and manufacturing. Engineering is grounded in a respect for human skills. Engineering underpins every aspect of our day to day lives, yet as a nation we seem to take it for granted. […]
Whilst the establishment might frown at this over the top celebration of the challenges and excitement of engineering we should not underestimate its impact. Let’s remember that this 115 sec clip has been viewed over 3 million times on You-tube since August 2013. It has radically raised the profile of Georgia Tech as an exciting place to study, reinforced the idea that studying engineering can be fun, may have swayed undecided students towards engineering……… […]
News today that James Dyson is planning to invest £250M in a new R&D facility. Creating the building and facility is one challenge; finding the engineers to fill it is another. “It will be impossible to find the additional 3,000 engineers needed unless the Government makes engineering a more attractive career choice”, said the entrepreneur. “As a country, we need an extra 87,000 engineers a year to meet demand.” […]
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