Engineering plays a crucial part in every product, every gadget, every system you use in your daily life. Bridges, cars, phones, computers, aircraft – all are designed and produced by engineers. Most people aren’t familiar with the work engineers do, because if it’s working, you don’t notice it. The smooth running of everything from computer systems to traffic lights is all down to engineers.
As of 2024, the UK engineering sector is contributing an estimated £645 billion annually to the economy, representing about 32% of the country's economic output. This figure showcases the crucial role engineering plays in driving innovation, creating jobs, and supporting economic growth. Engineering continues to be a cornerstone of the UK’s economic landscape, with over 8 million people employed in the sector across various industries
Engineers work primarily in innovation: either designing a brand new product or improving an existing one. These engineering innovations go on to make our lives easier, more comfortable, or productive. Creative solutions to everyday problems are often at the heart of engineering – here are three ways Engineering impacts modern life.
3 Ways Engineering Impacts Modern Life
1. Health
Medical technology allows for new procedures and treatments to fight diseases. Recent developments include nanotechnology that can fight cancer cells without damaging healthy tissue, brain-machine interfaces that allow for transmission of brain signals to artificial limbs, and even edits to the human genome.
Synthesising new vaccines, bio-engineering new antibiotics and creating new scanners that can detect minute changes are all done through the power of Engineering. Engineering also allows predictive systems to run multiple simulations of theoretical treatments, which is being used to research cures for cancer.
These advances could not have been achieved without the Engineers who design and build the machines that make it all possible.
2. Technology
Technology exists to make our lives better. Technology is becoming so advanced that it is now progressing at the fastest rate in human history. We’re doubling the rate of tech progress every decade, giving the power of technology an exponential curve upwards. Engineers are at the forefront of technological advancement, designing new machines and algorithms to help tackle societal problems.
Technology is being used to combat climate change, improve our quality of life and bring people closer together. Engineers look at objects and processes and think ‘how can this be made better?’ Increasingly, moral and ethical issues are brought into question as well. A focus on Ethical Engineering keeps such rapid progress on a more controlled path that works for the benefit of society as a whole.
3. Transport
Engineering has resulted in breakthrough developments in transportation across land, sea and air around the world.
Mag-lev trains are faster, cleaner and more efficient than traditional trains, self-driving electric cars can help lower accidents, planes are safer than ever before, and boats are cutting their emissions through solar power and smart materials. Roads are changing and soon we may abandon them entirely, taking to the skies in flying cars.
As the world’s population increases, and society becomes increasingly urbanised, we’ll need new transport solutions to be able to move large numbers of people reliably and efficiently. Finding innovative, sustainable solutions to these problems is what makes Engineering careers so rewarding and vital to society at every level.
Engineering advancements have all been made through rigorous study, experimentation and teamwork, key values to anyone considering a career in Engineering. VHR works closely with Engineers across sectors to find fulfilling Engineering careers working with cutting-edge Engineering technology for some of the world’s leading brands.
Learn more about working in Engineering, or read about how Engineering will change the world in 2019.
