New demands for engineering work, driven by a growing economy as well as new programs such as the recently passed federal infrastructure bill, have the potential to create significant shortages in staff and talent within the engineering community. The next Engineering Change Lab – USA (ECL-USA) virtual summit, Augmenting the Engineering Workforce Through Technological Innovation, to be held on March 15, 2022, will explore this important topic.
Register for the summit at the link below.
In this future, technological innovation may not be seen as a threat to the engineering community (automating and replacing engineering jobs), but rather may be viewed as a significant strategy for closing this unfolding supply and demand gap — augmenting the engineering workforce using emerging technologies to increase productivity, enhance creativity, and work more efficiently and safely. Jobs will change, not replaced.
Summit discussions will explore the various aspects of the issue of workforce augmentation.
- Highlight trends driving the need for workforce augmentation through technological innovation.
- Explore how emerging technologies (such as augmented and virtual reality systems, AI and machine learning, exoskeleton systems, wearables, collaborative robots, communication tools, digital twins, drones, etc.) can be used to optimize engineering work and allow engineers to fulfill their “highest and best use” for society.
- Examine the transformational impact these types of augmentation strategies may have on engineering and the engineering community, including business impacts, recruiting challenges, and macro-ethical issues.
The Summit 14 provocateurs will inform and frame this discussion from their different perspectives.
- Michael Gustafson, Senior Industry Strategy Manager – Structures, Autodesk, will provide insight on access to cloud services, access to technology as a strategy in attracting new talent, and the contrast between low IQ and high IQ in artificial intelligence.
- Chris Harman, Director of Digital Delivery and Innovation, WSP, will describe how digital augmentation frees engineers from mundane tasks and enables more complex, meaningful, and thoughtful designs.
- Paul Surin, Global Lead Engineering, Construction Operations & BIM at IBM will outline his work in Europe in digital transformation strategies for engineering, construction, and manufacturing.
This summit will be delivered virtually utilizing Zoom. ECL-USA Creative Director Kyle Davy will again design and facilitate the summit. Kyle and all session provocateurs will present by live stream with opportunities for live questions and answers. In line with the tradition of past ECL-USA summits, there will also be opportunities for small group and large group activities and discussions.
The summit registration fee is $150. Free registration is available for a limited number of students or for others with financial constraints. Students and others interested in a waiver of the registration fee should contact Mike McMeekin ([email protected]).
