Engineering: issues, challenges and opportunities for development ...

ENGINEERING: ISSUES CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT■■■■contributes to the strengthening of engineering and technologicalactivities in order to promote sustainable economicgrowth and social welfare throughout the world;fosters a balanced understanding of the applications ofengineering and technology by the public;provides an international forum for discussion and communicationof engineering and technological issues of commonconcern;fosters cooperative international engineering and technologicalefforts through meaningful contacts for the developmentof programs of bilateral and multilateral interest;■ encourages improvement of engineering education andpractice internationally;■■fosters establishment of additional engineering academiesin countries where none exist; andundertakes other projects, programs and activities.MissionThe CAETS mission is to foster effective engineering and technologicalprogress for the benefit of societies of all countries.Specifically, CAETS provides the mechanism through whichthe engineering and applied science academies of the worldwork together on internationally important issues. Memberacademies each have a well-established programme of serviceon important national and international issues with significantengineering and technological content, and many are calledupon by their governments to provide authoritative, objectiveadvice on technological issues of national importance. CAETSenables each academy to draw on the total global experienceand expertise of all member academies when addressing issuesat their own national level. It also ensures that the best technologicaland engineering expertise is made available and usedto best advantage by key international and inter-governmentalinstitutions and organizations.GovernanceThe administrative and policy body of CAETS, on whicheach academy has one representative, is the Council whichelects the Officers (President, President-elect, Past Presidentand Secretary/Treasurer) and the Board of Directors, whichconsists of the Officers (the Executive Committee) and fourother members each serving, except for the Secretary/Treasurer,for one year terms. The major CAETS events are itsannual Council meetings, its biennial Convocations and itshost-academy sponsored symposia in alternate non-Convocationyears. Past Convocations have focused on ‘Engineering,Innovation and Society’, ‘Technology and Health’, ‘WorldForests and Technology’, ‘Entertaining Bytes’, ‘Oceans andthe World’s Future’, ‘Hydrogen Economy: Clean Energy forthis Century’ and ‘Environment and Sustainable Growth’.StrategyCAETS priorities include engagement with the United Nationsspecialized agencies and related international organizations,fostering and strengthening national academies of engineeringand technological sciences, convocations, symposia andreports, support for member academy initiatives, and addressingissues of common concern of the member academies.With respect to its first priority listed above, CAETS participatesin an ongoing advisory/consultative role with the relevantscientific/technological organizations of the UnitedNations (UN) System, and it has established working relationswith WFEO, IAC, ICSU and other relevant non-governmentalbodies in respect of CAETS linkages with the UN.The CAETS website (http://www.caets.org) includes informationon all aspects of CAETS activities, and mailing addressesof and links to the websites of its member academies. CAETSis incorporated in the District of Columbia, USA, June 30 2000and is an IRS 510(c)(3) tax-exempt, charitable organization.4.3.5Peter BoswellInternational Federation ofConsulting Engineers ( FIDIC)The International Federation of Consulting Engineers ( FIDIC)represents the consulting engineering industry at the internationallevel. A macroeconomic analysis confirms the industry’ssignificance and importance. The consulting engineeringindustry, which comprises independent private consultingfirms supplying services on a fee-for-service basis, is a majorindustry worldwide. It has an annual revenue of some US$490billion, and is heavily involved with the construction, managementand industrial sectors that generate one-half of theworld’s GDP. Any industry sector, especially one that makesmajor contributions to conceiving, designing, delivering andmaintaining the world’s infrastructure, aims to be able toquantify the scope and importance of its activities. However,unlike the manufacturing sector, the services sector, of whichthe consulting engineering industry forms a part, does notlend itself to a straightforward analysis. Data is lacking and theclassification of activities often prevents a rigorous analysis.Most recent discussions of the industry’s activities havetaken place within the context of the World Trade Organization’strade in service negotiations and the harmonization ofnational statistics. These two approaches have converged ona reasonably robust classification of the consulting engineeringindustry’s activities that span both architectural and civil140