UNESCO is releasing its second report Engineering for Sustainable Development: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goalson the occasion of World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development on 4 March. This study presents current technical innovations, including emerging technologies, artificial intelligence and metadata, but highlights the inadequacy of current engineering capacities to meet internationally agreed sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the lack of diversity in this field.
The Report, published ten years after UNESCO’s first Engineering Report, also points out that “ la unprecedented situation experienced with the COVID-19 pandemic revealed how interconnected our societies are and showed how scientific innovations could enable greater resilience through the concrete application of ingénierie ”.
UNESCO also provides an overview of engineering innovations and actions towards the realization of the SDOs, to which actors from all regions of the world have contributed. It highlights the essential role of engineering in the achievement of each of the 17 SDOs and explains why the mobilization of the engineering profession is indispensable. In particular, the paper aims to demonstrate the extent to which innovations in engineering and new technologies are making the world a better place – especially those based on information and communication technologies and data.
More importantly, it demonstrates the vital role of engineering in addressing today’s major issues, such as climate change, urbanization, and maintaining the health of our oceans and forests. The transformation of engineering education and capacity-building at the dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which should enable engineers to meet the challenges ahead, is also at the heart of this report, which highlights the effort that must be made at the global level to respond to the specific needs of each region, while summarizing engineering trends in the different regions of the world.
“ L ‘engineering itself needs to evolve and become more innovative, more inclusive, more cooperative and more responsable ,” the authors say.
There is therefore an urgent need for a new paradigm in the field, one that would overcome traditional divisions between disciplines, that would present an approach that is both inter- and multidisciplinary, and through which engineering could address complex issues, such as climate change. In addition, engineers must understand and assume their social responsibility in contributing to the evolution towards a more sustainable, resilient and equitable world for all.
This report was developed in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the International Centre for Engineering Education (ICEE), based at Tsinghuan University, the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO), and several other international engineering organizations.
The full report, in English, HERE.
Translated from L’UNESCO publie son rapport L’Ingénierie au service du développement durable rappelant l’importance des technologies émergentes
