Celebrating Women in Engineering - what key innovation will become a great development?

Engineering has the ability to impact everyone, so are there specific areas where it can make a significant difference to people’s lives?

Today we asked: What is the key industry innovation that you see becoming a great development?

Kerstin Hucknall, Project Planner

“I believe that taking the BIM process a step further and combining it with Virtual Reality by integrating the BIM models into that Virtual Reality is one of the recent innovations offering a vast range of, often still yet unexplored, opportunities. Virtual Reality can fundamentally assist with the integrated development of a project by allowing the teams of all stakeholders to immerse themselves into the project by having virtual walkthroughs, and therefore to collaboratively identify and resolve potential problems at the earliest opportunity.”

Utkarsha Somalwar, Assistant Project Manager

“Automation and robotics within the defence and aviation industries because the implementation of these will reduce dependencies on human interactions and therefore human error.”

Oriel Webster, Senior Project Manager

“The influence of Information Communications and Technology (ICT) in our daily lives cannot be ignored.  How it influences our built environment, open spaces and general households will continue to change in leaps and bounds.  The introduction of AI will place an even heavier reliance on people’s behavioural skills, creativity and problem-solving ability.”

Kirsty Barrie, Project Manager

“I am a massive lover of the great outdoors and believe we have a responsibility to protect the planet so our grandchildren can enjoy the great outdoors the way we can today. Engineers can make that happen.”

Susan Kizito, Senior Project Manager

“Development of more cost effective, environmentally friendly water treatment technologies.”

Joanne Cunningham, General Manager - Project Management

“The STEM drive in schools and just getting teenage girls aware of what engineering really is and the diverse opportunities it can lead to.”

Maria Petropoulou, Senior Engineer

“The key industry innovation is BIM – since the introduction of BIM the design approach has changed and it has become a holistic – integrated design approach where all disciplines come together”

Michelle Mabbitt, Senior Engineering Technician

“I can foresee with digital software and use of drones, VR imaging and 3D model collaboration within consultancies will become more complex.  It is part of our function to make these complex processes easier to get an understandable and useable output.  It is increasingly important that technicians, engineers and managers all strive to present a concise, accurate, consistent and clear set of information. 

There has been a big push on Wellbeing and Mental Health within the construction industry recently.  As it is predominantly male-dominated there is a greater importance for companies, employers and employees to be aware of their own and others’ stress levels.”

Natalie Weiershausen, Project Manager

“Autonomous driving.  Sooner than later, this is going to revolutionise how we design roadways and public transit (and everything that goes along with them).  No one knows all of the implications yet, but it will be an exciting ride as we find out.”

Kelly Knee, Executive Director - Ocean Science

“I see the continuous improvement and innovation around wind turbine technology as a key innovation because updates in performance and reliability play a key role in making elimination of net-greenhouse gas emissions a reality.  Here in Rhode Island we see this illustrated in our backyard as New York State will depend heavily on offshore wind to achieve their aggressive new plan to become a net-zero economy by 2050.”

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Read our introduction to our amazing series Celebrating International Women in Engineering which we are running all this week, recognising International Women in Engineering Day on 23 June.