THE NEWSLETTER OF THE SYDNEY DIVISION OF ENGINEERS AUSTRALIA Sydney Division Key Sponsors
MARCH 2011
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Growing and Fostering Australian Innovation There is a scene in the movie, The Social Network (the Facebook movie) which really struck a chord with me – it’s the scene where the equivalent of a Vice Chancellor of Harvard University declares that “Harvard undergraduates don’t apply for jobs, they create them”. Yes, it’s a corny line. However, it imparts something that we must take note of – the culture of creativity and innovation that is emitted from Universities in the U.S. It is that that we need to grow, and foster in both public and private sectors in Australia. By nature, through my work, I’ve found that we (Australians) are quite innovative. For a relatively small population, we have made our mark on the world stage when it comes to science and technology. Australian Engineers have worked and are working on some exciting projects all around the world. Take for example, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, China’s Water Cube, ResMed’s sleep apnea devices, Cochlear’s ear implants, or any of the award winning engineering projects, currently displayed at the Powerhouse Museum. And you only need to tune into ABC’s New Inventors once in a while to see that it’s not only engineers that are quite innovative – but we even have a strong presence of the “background inventor”. However, innovation when it comes to science and technology is still not awarded the same esteem in our society, as it is in Northern America and to some extents, Europe. When this column goes to print – we will be entering into the New South Wales state election, and the problems we are facing in this state, from infrastructure, to housing, water, and power, all need an innovative engineering solution. Recently a professor at a prominent Australian
university asked me this very question – how do we teach innovation? I certainly don’t have the answer, and whatever the answer is, I’m sure it’s not an easy one. I can hypothesise though, that it has to do with education right at its roots, from teaching and rewarding creativity at the early stages of youth. I believe that we need to ensure that we are competitive on the world stage when it comes to innovation in science and engineering. We need to encourage, foster, and grow creativity in our youth – in such a way that it is transferred to their professional life as scientists and engineers. And further, we should encourage it in the workplace. Its common knowledge that Google and 3M provide their employees a certain percentage of their time to be creative. Whether this should be rolled out to all organisations is a debate for another day. However, I think it’s imperative that future generations are encouraged to think outside of the box, and who knows – we may not only begin to solve the social problems we face with cleverly engineered solutions, but perhaps the next “Facebook” may also be Australian made. Please add the Sydney Division President (EASyd_President), if you are on Twitter. Maryam Khajeh Sydney Division President