The concept of “Strategic Engineering” as used here is a generic term that includes a variety of approaches to design, create and manage technological systems for an uncertain, changing world. It includes a range of methodologies, frameworks, and tools that each promote in their own way an overall shared understanding of an Engineering problem. Strategic Engineering reflects this growing understanding that Engineering, in general, is much more than the design of specific technological artifacts. It recognizes the need to take a “longer” term view on a project, naturally leading to considerations of uncertainty, people, economics, regulations, etc.
Indeed, individual technological artifacts — the bridge, the power plant, the rocket — achieve their full value as part of a larger complex of other creations. A bridge may be technically beautiful, but only becomes valuable when it connects to a larger system, such as a transport network. Strategic Engineering thus considers design and development of systems: power plants as part of electrical distribution grids, rockets as part of international communications, and so on.
Furthermore, the value of systems lies in the services or functions they enable. Power plants deliver electricity to light and warm homes, among other purposes. The value of such services can be both economic and social — economic because they generate revenues, social because they provide comfort by heating homes and offices. The quality of the design of systems, of their engineering, thus depends on their overall value. Strategic Engineering thus needs to be alert to, cognizant of the range of values it serves.
Strategic Engineering recognizes that technological artifacts exist in a changing, thus uncertain world. Technology continues to evolve. So does the economic, environmental, and social contexts that ultimately define the value of designs. Strategic Engineering deals with the reality that our task is not only to design systems, but also to manage them to deal with eventual unpredictable new possibilities and needs – which involves and affects people.
Strategic Engineering embodies the increasing recognition that engineering, the proper creation and management of technological systems to function over a “longer” time horizon, often involving much more than getting the technology right. “Longer” depends on the speed of change for the context. This may be 15–20 years for a new power plant project, but only a year for cutting-edge AI developments. In some way, engineering practice needs to design systems, that can develop and maintain economic and social value, over a range of uncertain futures that extend beyond short-term operational considerations.
Strategic Engineering represents a profound paradigm shift. Traditional engineering, as widely practiced and taught, concentrates on purely technical subjects. Economics, management, and policy are not part of the program — the focus is on the artifact. Traditional engineering design focuses on producing a product to meet pre-determined requirements. Strategic Engineering aims to create technical systems that will develop productively over time. It is as much concerned with the process of developing a productive system as it is about developing the system itself.
Metaphorically, the practice of Strategic Engineering is similar to playing strategic board games — such as chess, shogi, or go — in that good participants have the ability to think deeply about how they develop their game, to anticipate the range of situations they may have to deal with, and to be ready to proactively adapt to new developments. Strategic Engineering requires thinking beyond “the next move”, positioning the “board” in our favour to make good decisions in the future.
