page_title: Engineering
section_title: Social context
hierarchical_section_title: Engineering / Social context
context_page_description: Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more specialized fields of engineering, each with a more specific emphasis on particular areas of applied mathematics, applied science, and types of application. See glossary of engineering.
  The term engineering is derived from the Latin ingenium, meaning "cleverness" and ingeniare, meaning "to contrive, devise".
context_section_description: The engineering profession engages in a wide range of activities, from large collaboration at the societal level, and also smaller individual projects.  Almost all engineering projects are obligated to some sort of financing agency: a company, a set of investors, or a government.  The few types of engineering that are minimally constrained by such issues are pro bono engineering and open-design engineering.
  By its very nature engineering has interconnections with society, culture and human behavior.  Every product or construction used by modern society is influenced by engineering. The results of engineering activity influence changes to the environment, society and economies, and its application brings with it a responsibility and public safety.
  Engineering projects can be subject to controversy. Examples from different engineering disciplines include the development of nuclear weapons, the Three Gorges Dam, the design and use of sport utility vehicles and the extraction of oil. In response, some western engineering companies have enacted serious corporate and social responsibility policies.
  Engineering is a key driver of innovation and human development. Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, has a very small engineering capacity which results in many African nations being unable to develop crucial infrastructure without outside aid. The attainment of many of the Millennium Development Goals requires the achievement of sufficient engineering capacity to develop infrastructure and sustainable technological development.
  All overseas development and relief NGOs make considerable use of engineers to apply solutions in disaster and development scenarios. A number of charitable organizations aim to use engineering directly for the good of mankind:
  Engineers Without Borders
  Engineers Against Poverty
  Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief
  Engineers for a Sustainable World
  Engineering for Change
  Engineering Ministries International
  Engineering companies in many established economies are facing significant challenges with regard to the number of professional engineers being trained, compared with the number retiring.  This problem is very prominent in the UK where engineering has a poor image and low status. There are many negative economic and political issues that this can cause, as well as ethical issues. It is widely agreed that the engineering profession faces an "image crisis", rather than it being fundamentally an unattractive career.  Much work is needed to avoid huge problems in the UK and other western economies.
caption: Robotic Kismet can produce a range of facial expressions.
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