Engineering the Future news

24 April 2013

EtF calls for the UK to redouble its efforts to tackle e-crime

A three-fold initiative is required to re-energise the UK approach to e-crime according to the Engineering the Future (EtF) alliance, which gave evidence to the Home Affairs Committee yesterday. Professor Jim Norton, FREng FBCS FIET, represented EtF at the witness session on e-crime.

Jim Norton, explained that three lines of attack are required, first to contain, and then to reduce the incidence of e-crime. These are:

• Education – informing the Internet user community, across the generations, of best practice along with training as to how to recognise the threats and risks to be avoided.
• Software Quality – improving availability and knowledge of the methods that can be utilised by developers and system administrators to prevent defective software being created or used.
• Law Enforcement – Strengthening the ability of law enforcement agencies to both capture and proactively pursue instigators of e-crime both at home and abroad, thus improving respect and confidence in the broader community.

The alliance believes that educating the public and creating a co-ordinated approach among involved parties is key to preventing e-crime. EtF believes that the current national initiatives, such as Get Safe Online, whilst well intentioned appear to have been largely ineffective. Jim adds: “Get Safe Online was an excellent concept which was well implemented, however, it has not been widely promoted and there is little evidence that it has achieved significant engagement with the citizen or commerce. There need to be new ongoing initiatives that are co-ordinated, comprehensive and educational aimed at changing peoples’ online behaviours by increasing awareness and creating a safety conscious online society. Although, the main source of risk is not, as widely claimed, unsafe behaviour by computer users but, rather, the design flaws and programming errors that make normal, reasonable behaviour unsafe.”

The full EtF submission to the Home Affairs committee can be found at: E Crime Inquiry (305KB)

1 May 2012

Engineering the Future is commended in the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report on Engineering in government.

23 April 2012

Engineering the Future has published a report that sets out the key issues that arose from the Engineering the future of water discussion meetings that were held in 2011. The report builds on the original Global Water Security – an engineering perspective report and looks at the challenges, opportunities and future of different approaches to water management including water recycling, water transfer and demand management and behaviour change. The report is available through the following link: www.raeng.org.uk/etfwater

12 April 2012

The third and final report in the current Nuclear Construction Lessons Learned series on welding has been published. This document is part of a series of guidance on best practice reports that have addressed key issues in nuclear new build including: Nuclear safety culture and concrete. The report is available through the following link: www.raeng.org.uk/ncllwelding

24 February 2012

Engineering the Future has published a series of best practice guides for the nuclear new build supply chain and related industries. These guides aim to help industry successfully deliver a new fleet of nuclear power stations by providing accessible information about best practice behaviours to all those involved. The reports are available through www.engineeringthefuture.co.uk/government

10 January 2012

Engineering the Future, the alliance of engineering institutions and professional bodies led by The Royal Academy of Engineering, has created a ‘snapshot’ of UK infrastructure planning across five infrastructure areas and developed the UK Infrastructure Timelines (January 2012) (230KB) report.

The overall picture presented by the timelines show that significant planning at quite a detailed level is evident in the energy and ICT areas, other infrastructure areas show much less clarity at present.

This report is the first phase of a wider project and at this stage, no recommendations are made as to how to remedy such issues. More detailed work in phase two will begin to explore what actions might be taken to ensure the entire UK infrastructure develops optimally in terms of capacity and function.

30 November 2011

The Engineering the Future alliance has undertaken a project in partnership with Infrastructure UK on the country’s future infrastructure challenges and opportunities. This work has been incorporated into the recently published National Infrastructure Plan 2011. The full version of the National Infrastructure Plan 2011 is available through HM Treasury website

28 November 2011

Is a radical look at the design of our homes the real way to cut domestic water use?

Privacy, how we smell and the modern bathroom are all key reasons behind our huge domestic use of water, a leading social scientist has claimed.

At the third and final meeting in the 'Engineering the future of water' series, organised by the Engineering the Future alliance, experts from across the water industry looked into behaviour change and demand management. More information is available through this News Release

25 October 2011

Still just a pipe dream? UK water transfer is a realistic option, say experts

After 40 years of debate and controversy, the idea of large-scale water transfer in the UK must still be considered a feasible future option, a panel of experts have claimed. At the second of three meetings on the future of water organised by the Engineering the Future alliance, representatives from two water companies, the Environment Agency and two independent consultants looked into the engineering, environmental and economic impact of moving water around the country from areas of plenty to places where supply is under greater stress. More information is available through this News Release

18 October 2011

Wetter, warmer, windier…..will the UK's infrastructure cope?

Future challenges faced by the UK’s vital infrastructure have been debated by over 80 Parliamentarians and senior representatives of the engineering community. On 18 October, the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee met to discuss Wetter, warmer, windier…..will the UK’s infrastructure cope? supported by the Engineering the Future alliance at Portcullis House in Westminster. Further details to follow.

13 September 2011

'Yuk factor' a barrier to water reuse in UK

The belief there is an endless supply of clean fresh water and an apparent squeamishness about recycled water are serious barriers to better use of the vital resource in UK homes and businesses, experts have warned. The Engineering the Future alliance held the first in a series of three events looking at the technology utilised for local water recycling as well as attitudes and behaviours towards using recycled water. The event addressed the issues from the perspective of a water company, the farming community, academics, researchers and providers of the engineering technologies. More information is available through this News Release