Ian Pearson - Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Parliamentary Reception
Parliament, London - 23 April 2008

Herbert Hoover is best remembered these days for being U.S. president at the time of the Wall Street Crash. But he started life as an engineer. Comparing his two professions in his memoir he wrote:

It is a great profession. (Although) the great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them... He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers...He cannot, like the politicians, screen his shortcomings by blaming his opponents and hope that the people will forget. The engineer simply cannot deny that he did it. If his works do not work, he is damned. (But) to the engineer falls the job of clothing the bare bones of science with life, comfort and hope.

The engineers that I have met certainly agree that it's a great profession. And, since Hoover's time, engineering and technology, in all their forms, have become more central than ever to improving 'life, comfort and hope'.

To take just one example: prosthetic limbs were once uncomfortable, archaic and unaffordable. Now, there is an open prosthetics design forum that employs collaborators and volunteers to advance prosthetics technology while attempting to lower costs. Lead user innovations can be incorporated into companies' R&D strategies, enabling quick identification and anticipation of consumer needs. This sort of process has been described as 'Democratizing Innovation'.

So as Wealth of a Nation, EPSRC's Evaluation of Engineering Research in the UK spelled out, in creating goods, services and infrastructure that can benefit humankind, the health of engineering is of national importance.

The UK can only succeed in a globalised world by creating a high-skill workforce that produces innovative high-value, products and services. Engineers and engineering are a very important part of this work. Innovation

One of the main reasons the Prime Minister created the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills last June was to champion innovation across all sectors, working with partners across and outside Government. Last month, we published a White Paper: 'Innovation Nation' which sets out how essential innovation is to the UK's future economic prosperity and social wellbeing. The White Paper's bold ambition is to make the UK the leading nation in the world to be an innovative business - to help innovation flourish across every area of the economy.

The best-known innovative companies incorporate new technologies in well designed products that their competitors find difficult to imitate. And engineers are essential to the process of turning new innovative ideas into practical products and services.

In the area of Plastic Electronics for example, UK businesses hold critical know-how and intellectual property. We have an exceptionally strong academic base and home-grown businesses such as Plastic Logic and Xaar have leading positions in developing and marketing early products. The task of engineering organic materials exhibiting semi-conducting properties into manufacturable devices and products has been taken up by engineers primarily based in industry.

The Technology Strategy Board is working with the key businesses and public sector partners to ensure that there is a coherent strategy for pulling the advances in plastic electronics technology through to exploitation in the UK.

Securing reliable, sustainable energy is a key Government priority and one that engineering can help us meet. For example our new target to source 20% of the EU's energy from renewables by 2020. Meeting the UK's share of this target will mean a step change in renewable energy deployment. To this end, the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) will invest up to £110 million per year in low carbon technology development for at least the next 10 years. ETI will help to deliver UK's climate change goals by bringing more focus, ambition and collaboration to the UK's work in energy science and engineering We need more engineers

Whether you're an employer involved in aerospace, civil or mechanical engineering, medical technology or systems design - I know you value qualified engineers and need a regular influx of good graduates. There is a shortage of engineers now and as the average age of the population rises, we will need even more new blood to replace engineers as they retire or move away from the sector.

A key requirement is young people leaving education with the right skills, able to compete for these jobs. The Government is committed to achieving further improvements in the numbers of children achieving good grades in the key Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects at school and college, and to see this feeding into continuing increases in new entrants to study STEM subjects at university, and in due course to research.

We are determined to offer qualifications, at all levels that strike the right balance between the academic and the applied elements of learning. This is especially important for a subject such as engineering.

The new Engineering Diploma to run alongside A-levels from September 2008; the growth in Foundation degrees; our reforms of apprenticeships; and our commitment to support more qualifications which are demand-led which all help to transform the skill level of our economy.

We also need to generate enthusiasm for and understanding of engineering in schools and beyond. We need more strong role models and representations of engineering - as statistics show that three quarters of school children have no idea what engineers actually do.

That's why I think the STEMNET science and engineering ambassadors (SEA) programme is such a good thing. We have 18,000 science and engineering ambassadors from industry and academia going into schools on a voluntary basis. And 11,700 of those ambassadors are engineers of one kind or another - representing the rich variety of applications of the subject. The enthusiasm of these Ambassadors is excellent.

Moreover, the Technology and Engineering in Schools Strategy (TESS) and the National Engineering Programme (NEP) help to promote the role of engineering in society. These are both being delivered through the Royal Academy of Engineering which, together with the engineering institutions and employers, also has a key role to play promoting engineering in the UK.

In addition to the National Skills Academy Programme, we are also working with James Dyson to create the Dyson School of Design Innovation, due to open in 2010. The new school will be a centre of excellence for design engineering and will work with specialist companies such as Airbus and Rolls Royce to give hands-on experience.

So there's a lot to be excited about, but rest assured we will continue to strive to increase the numbers of engineering students and engineers at all levels. And we will support you in business, in innovation and in academia. And in return, we will use your knowledge and expertise to improve the life, comfort and hope that President Hoover talked about. Thanks for listening.