26 May 2021

Royal Academy of Engineering call for systems approach to resilience planning

New report suggests government tap into engineer values to enhance future emergency strategy

© Unsplash/ThisisEngineering RAEng

The Royal Academy of Engineering says the UK Government should work closely with engineers to strengthen the country's resilience against future emergencies.

The report, Critical capabilities: strengthening UK resilience, outlines how a systems approach can be applied across the public and private sector. It says strategies around emergency response should go beyond connections and capabilities – which typically feature in disaster planning – instead utilisting an engineer’s systems view that can help identify critical capabilities.

The publication calls for government to work with engineers and to build a "whole-of-society" approach to resilience, called for in its Integrated Review – a review of foreign, defence, security and international development policies – published in March 2021.

Commenting, Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society of Engineers says, 'Science and engineering have played a crucial role through the COVID-19 emergency, helping find viable pathways out of this pandemic. We must remind ourselves that this was possible
because of decades of sustained investment in people, research and facilities. The Critical Capabilities approach identifies the full range of capabilities, investments and connections needed to be well prepared for when the next emergency hits, including the UK’s outstanding science, research and innovation capabilities.'

You can read the report here