Some of the most celebrated and accomplished engineers and scientists from around the world were called to a conference by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) to identify the greatest challenges for engineering that face us in the 21st century.
The experts met several times to finalise 14 grand challenges for the 21st century that if met could improve how we live. The decision also relied upon input through an interactive website, which received worldwide contributions from prominent engineers and scientists, as well as from the general public, over a one-year period.
Sustainability, health, reducing vulnerability and increasing the joy of living
Final choices fell into four themes essential for humanity: sustainability, health, reducing vulnerability and increasing joy of living. Not endorsing any particular product and keeping their focus away from consumerism, the final 14 goals were chosen.
The challenges are: making solar energy affordable; developing carbon sequestration methods; providing energy from fusion; managing the nitrogen cycle; providing access to clean water; restoring and improving urban infrastructure; advance health informatics; engineering better medicines; reverse-engineering the brain; preventing nuclear terror; securing cyberspace; enhancing virtual reality; advancing personalised learning; and, engineering the tools for scientific discovery.
"We chose engineering challenges that we feel can, through creativity and commitment, be realistically met, most of them early in this century," said committee chair and former US Secretary of Defense William J. Perry. "Some can be, and should be, achieved as soon as possible."
"Tremendous advances in quality of life have come from improved technology in areas such as farming and manufacturing," said committee member and Google co-founder Larry Page. "If we focus our effort on the important grand challenges of our age, we can hugely improve the future."
The final challenges are not ranked; instead, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is offering the public the vote on which one they think is more important. To make your vote, visit the project website.
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Date Published: March 14, 2008
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