2024 Engineering Ideas Institute

SPONSORED BY THE LEMELSON FOUNDATION / ENGINEERING FOR ONE PLANET

It’s a VUCA World (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) and it’s getting worse. The 2024 Engineering Ideas Institute included a deep dive into the dynamics of this unfolding future, exploring such questions as …

• Are new paradigms for engineering practice emerging and what are the broad contours of these new ways of thinking and being for the engineering community?
• What role should the engineering community play in countering a rising trend of dis-information and misinformation?
  • How can the engineering community build (rebuild) trust between itself and the broader public while experiencing the dynamics of this VUCA world?
• What macro-ethical challenges are arising for engineering practice as the Fourth Industrial Revolution unfolds?
• What is the leadership mandate for the engineering community in this VUCA world for addressing issues such “wicked problems” as:
  • Artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies
  • Climate change
  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and social justice

Summit Reports

2024 Engineering Ideas Institute Overview

View 2024 Engineering Ideas Institute Report

Agenda & Reading List

2024 Engineering Ideas Institute Agenda

2024 Engineering Ideas Institute Reading List

Provocateur Presentation Recordings

DEI in a VUCA World, Bryan Dewsbury – Florida International University

Dewsbury describes his personal evolution to understanding that education is about helping students find their purpose and his belief that DEI offers opportunities to students who have traditionally been excluded from this exploration.

Provocateur Presentations

Guru Madhavan – Wicked Problems

Madhavan describes his taxonomy of problems, with wicked problems as the most challenging category and provides historical examples of wicked problems.

John Poulsen – Climate Change as a Wicked Problem

Poulsen describes the climate crisis and The Nature Conservancy’s community-centered approach to dissolving this wicked problem.

Mark Abbott – AI as a Wicked Problem

Abbott outlines ECL-Canada’s stewardship approach to overcoming the potential pitfalls of AI.

Kristan Uhlenbrock – Rebuilding Trust in a VUCA World

Uhlenbrock addresses the prevalence of misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation in today’s world and the Institute for Science and Policy’s approach to building trust in institutions.

Yolanda Webb – Why DEI Is Being Attacked

Webb challenges participants to be “daring not daunted” in the face of attacks on DEI.

Ademola Adejokun – Cultivating the Next Generation of Engineers

Adejokun highlights opportunity as a key factor in enabling young people to enter the engineering workforce.