4th European Engineers' Day

On 21st June, the 4th Engineers’ Day was held in Brussels by the professional engineering organisations European Council Engineers Chambers (ECEC), European Council of Civil Engineers (ECCE) and FEANI. The theme of the event centred around the New European Bauhaus and the vital role of engineering intelligence in the green transition.

 

The participants were welcomed by the presidents of the organizing committee Klaus Thürriedl (ECEC), Andreas Brandner (ECCE) and Ralf Appel (FEANI) and then introduced to the topic of the role of the European Union in preventing climate change through the European Green Deal by the EP’s Vice President, Dimitrios Papadimoulis.

Ruth Reichstein from the European Commission described the current goals and scope of the New European Bauhaus, expanding on best practice examples of initiatives of the NEB as well as the measures that are being taken towards the rebuilding of Ukraine.

These objectives were further explained by Alfredo Soeiro, founder of numerous education associations, such as EUCEN, RECLA and AUPEC. He especially focused his presentation on education towards more sustainable engineering and the necessary skills for engineers in the modern building culture.

Ricardo Bittini Miret, the Strategic Engagement Leader at Autodesk, put the ideas of the NEB into the perspective of general innovation by paraphrasing multiple innovators and inventors on their views on intelligent engineering. He oriented his presentation around Peter Rice’s quotation “An Engineer imagines” and applied it to best practice examples from around the world.

Christos Stylianides, the Minister of the Climate Crisis and Civil Protection of the Hellenic Republic, showed solutions against climate change impact effecting individual countries. In relation to engineers, a joint approach is needed, coordinated with other working fields, so that crises can be managed across branches and borders.

A new perspective to the New European Bauhaus was offered by Blaženka Mičević, Director at AGRODET Ltd and CLGE representative of Croatia, as she spoke about the difficulties that women continuously have to face in the male-dominated field of civil engineering. She made it clear that for the success of the NEB, the position of women in the industry must change and the female involvement must be recognised more clearly.

Léan Doody, director of Arup for City Planning & Design defined the role of companies in creating a more sustainable building culture and went into detail on what the New Bauhaus can entail, underlining these points by showing projects which Arup itself implemented in the context of the NEB.

Dumitru Fornea, EESC member and Confederal Secretary of Rumanian National Trade Union Confederation, shared insights to Europe’s raw material supply from and to the rest of the world and its role for the green transition. As innovative engineering is improving at rapid speed, the issue of suppliance of raw materials is gaining more and more importance and urgency. The EU is continuously developing ways of import and export with these changes to keep up with the demand.

At the closing round table discussion, ECCE President Andreas Brandner, ECCE Board Member Jeanette Muñoz Abela and ECEC President Klaus Thürriedl summarized that engineering work today must face multiple issues, for which a holistic solution is needed in sectors of finance, education, political influence, and the general fulfilment of the New European Bauhaus goals.

With the new Engineers for Europe (E4E) Erasmus+ project, which aims at improving the dialogue between education and profession, a step towards adapting curricula to professional requirements in order to ensure the availability of excellent engineering solution for a green transition will be taken during the following three years.

 

The whole event can be rewatched here.

 

The presentations can be found here:

The New European Bauhaus - the role of Engineers - Ruth Reichstein

New European Bauhaus objectives and related impact in Civil Engineering education - Alfredo Soeiro

An intelligent engineer imagines, paraphrasing Peter Rice - Ricardo Bittini Miret

Why women power is essential for the success of the NEB - Blaženka Mičević

Sustainable Cties in the context of the New Bauhaus - Léan Doody

Critical raw materials for green transition - Dumitru Fornea