What will engineering design practice be like in 2040 What will engineering design practice be like in 2040? Implications for OU teaching Prof Claudia Eckert Prof Ola Isaksson, System Engineering Design, Chalmers

Motivation Underlying future trends are analysed from multiple angles Societal: e.g. globalisation, aging population, migration Environmental: e.g. climate change, resource availability Technological: e.g. industry 4.0, nanotechnology What does this mean for engineering practise over the next 20 years? What does this mean for engineering education to support practise? What does this mean for OU teaching?

Our approach Ask experienced engineers how they think engineering design will change Focus on the practise of product development of complex products Generational products, incremental development Connected to other products and services Multi-disciplinary, but currently still controlled largely by the original disciplines Some of the policy intensions for 2040 are already launched

Methodology

Interviewees

The interviews Past and present research collaborators 8 – 35 years of experience in senior product development roles, e.g. system architects, strategic problem planers, engineering team leaders etc. Questions centred around What trends do you see? What skills will be required? How can academia help? Teaching Tools and method development

Trends based on the interviews

Trends Transportation Integrated transport solutions In service data gathering Order of innovation creates path dependency New business models emerging Energy Battery used in multiple products Regulation and funding regimes affect energy mix System architecture Legacy systems plus innovation Sharing of components

Engineering practise Discipline blending: mechanical, electrical, software, systems, mathematics, statistics, data science, material science Trade-offs Representations Collaboration skills New and enhanced skills Better system thinking More numerate Understanding diverse markets Expertise Deep subject matter expertise need to be complemented with systems and generalist thinking. People don’t stay long enough to become subject matter experts. Process Trend away from prescriptive processes to greater flexibility More design engineers, fewer production people

Conflicting trends Efficiency vs flexibility Optimization vs innovation Current company would have the money to fund radical concepts Optimization vs remanufacturablity Individualization (travel from A to B) vs standardization of modules Industry needs specialists and generalists

Trends from the workshop

Workshop Participants

Workshop Hosted by GoCo innovation cluster Senior engineers largely from Sweden International academics Interview finding circulated before hand Introduction talk on interview findings and sustainability predictions

Technology Trends Technology Artificial Intelligence and Augmented / Virtual Reality Increased computational power, quantum computing Cyberphysical products pose challenge in cybersecurity Additive Manufacturing New smart materials Modelling and Simulation Flexible working, organise tasks and workflow Digital twins Virtual testing Gamification of design

Soft trends Society Sustainability principles will become main stream Circular economy, nexus, upgrade, repair etc. Clearer regulation Ways of working Cross disciplinary, diverse teams including robots / Ais Small core teams and gigging engineers Beyond stage gate Life long learning Individual ownership of life long learning New forms of university / industry collaboration

Observation on OU and trends OU teaching is already doing very well Remote teaching prepare engineers for remote working Interdisciplinary engineering Sustainability well integrated into curriculum OU has some weaknesses Exposure of students to complex engineering processes Modelling and simulation only gradually introduced High degree of mathematical competency don’t be assumed

Potential for OU courses Introduction of a AI / big data pathway in collaboration with maths and computing Increased literacy in AI Modelling Data management Specific cross disciplinary training, e.g. cross disciplinary team projects Clearer positioning in generalist – specialist spectrum Teach remote collaboration explicitly

Reflections OU courses designed now will run to 2030 We need to prepare the students for the trends that are coming We should engage with employers about the skills that they expect to need Draw on the research connection to gain access to experts