UNESCO Engineering Report
UNESCO has published two landmark reports on Engineering, a decade apart. The first was widely recognized as one of the most important documents available on engineering, and raised considerable public interest. While some fundamental features of the engineers’ mission and responsibility remain, times have changed markedly in the ten years since its publication. The second UNESCO Engineering Report, Engineering for Sustainable Development: Delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals, published in 2021, was launched in the context of accelerating actions to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals.
2nd UNESCO Engineering Report (2021)
Engineering for Sustainable Development: Delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals
The report highlights the crucial role of engineering in achieving each of the 17 SDGs. It shows how equal opportunities for all is key to ensuring an inclusive and gender balanced profession that can better respond to the shortage of engineers for implementing the SDGs.
The report provides a snapshot of the engineering innovations that are shaping our world, especially emerging technologies such as big data and AI, which are crucial for addressing the pressing challenges facing humankind and the planet. It analyses the transformation of engineering education and capacity-building at the dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution that will enable engineers to tackle the challenges ahead. It highlights the global effort needed to address the specific regional disparities, while summarizing the trends of engineering across the different regions of the world.
By presenting case studies and approaches, as well as possible solutions, the report reveals why engineering is crucial for sustainable development and why the role of engineers is vital in addressing basic human needs such as alleviating poverty, supplying clean water and energy, responding to natural hazards, constructing resilient infrastructure, and bridging the development divide, among many other actions, leaving no one behind. It is hoped that the report will serve as a reference for governments, engineering organizations, academia and educational institutions, and industry to forge global partnerships and catalyse collaboration in engineering so as to deliver on the SDGs.
"It is essential that more young people, especially girls, consider engineering as a career."
1st UNESCO Engineering Report (2010)
Engineering: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities for Development
This was the first global comprehensive study on engineering. It was produced by UNESCO in partnership with the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO), the International Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences (CAETS) and the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC). It demonstrated that "Engineering drives social, economic and human development and underpins our knowledge societies and infrastructures. It is a major factor in innovation and indeed the rise and fall of civilizations".
The UNESCO report, Engineering: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities for Development, highlights the importance of engineers to the socio-economic development of humankind. As stated in the publication, "Engineering drives social, economic and human development and underpins our knowledge societies and infrastructures. It is a major factor in innovation and indeed the rise and fall of civilizations".
Despite the importance of engineers to the improvement of global societies, there are a number of issues, most pertinent is the shortage of engineers, that need to be brought to the public’s attention and that need to be addressed by international organizations, civil societies, industries, academic institutions and national governments.
