ENGINEERING WORLD

  The world is currently experiencing a period of rapid technological change that has been called ‘ the fourth industrial revolution ’. New technologies are being developed which will fundamentally reshape government workforces and change how government makes policy and delivers public services. The breadth and complexity of new technologies has created uncertainty about how they will be used, with many, often contradictory claims being made about their benefits and harms, such as the threats to privacy and the potential for governments to be more efficient. What are future technologies? Future technologies can be physical devices such as drones, wearable technology and robots. These may be used as tools directed by humans to collect data, access information, or perform useful tasks, sometimes in the place of a person. Other future technologies take the form of advanced computer software that can handle data in new and powerful ways – for example, artificial intelligence. Some of t...

Shares Understanding the Innovation Dividend of Clean Energy Investment July 26, 2017   |  By  Jon Creyts Curtis Probst While current political discourse seems to focus on what divides us, there are many topics on which people from across the political spectrum seem to agree. One of these is the critical importance of innovation. Innovation can create jobs, bolster our economy, and improve our lives. In clean energy, regular innovations arise in electric vehicles, grid technologies, industrial efficiency, renewable energy, building energy efficiency, and other applications. Breakthroughs come not only in physical form from research universities or national labs (e.g., solar panels or batteries), but also through new commercial applications and business models from the private sector (e.g., community solar or PACE). Given general agreement on the benefits of innovation, and the particular advantages in clean energy, what then is it that stimulates innovation, and why ...

Metals engineering is overlooked by most companies Opportunities to innovate are missed – potential competitive advantages gone forever! Problems due to sub-optimum component designs are accepted as a fact of life – leaving millions of dollars on the table! How great would it be to do all these, with  no risk: Improve product quality and performance Innovate better products Reduce manufacturing cost Metals Engineering Transforms Product Design That’s precisely what my metallurgical engineering services have accomplished for dozens of manufacturers. We help design teams engineer the metals in components to optimize designs, meeting performance and reliability requirements at low cost. And this is accomplished without significant investment. Applying metals engineering to product design is  not a new idea, but it  is transformative . It enables better design, manufacturing, and supplier decisions that result in better products, lower costs, and fewer problems. While metals ...