Engineering is a science and art form nearly all of us are familiar with to some degree. It is engineering that designs new software, the tallest of buildings, transportation systems, energy systems, and so on. However, there is an often unsung driver behind this vast world of engineering prowess—the business world.
It is the world of business and commerce that produces the need for a new invention. It is the banker that provides backing at every step of the way. It’s the online bachelor of business grad and the Fortune 500 CEO alike—each beckoning on the drive for newness and innovation through engineering.
Two Critical Provisions
Business and industry drive innovation, and innovation is what drives engineering. In the end, though, we can take a more simplified view of this vast world of supply and demand, engineering and business. Summed up, this relationship operates on two critical elements offered by this never-sleeping, business world of demand.
The business world maintains the engineering world via financial backing and a constantly evolving repertoire of problems needing solutions. Without these two powerful drivers, the world of engineering would quite arguably be just a mere shadow of its actual, real-life self today.
Resulting Success
To truly see the manifestation and results of this relationship, one only needs to look to virtually any page in a history book. The Erie Canal, one of modern engineering’s early chief accomplishments was spurred on by the demands and finances of big business and commerce in the central and eastern regions of the US. Automobiles and the subsequent advent of modern roads and highways were the result of business endeavors taken on by Henry Ford and others.
The list of proofs to this enduring relationship goes on and on. Getting into more modern times, we see proof of this continued relationship in increasingly wondrous and amazing projects –
- Kansai National Airport was constructed in the middle of the sea and is now the provider of 145,000 flights annually.
- High-Speed Rail Systems are popping up everywhere. The Beijing-Shanghai system and the California system are just two examples of this high tech fulfillment of business and commerce needs.
- Finance and problem-solving goals are what drove engineering into space. Today’s International Space Station continues to function as a sort of homage to worldwide efforts and accomplishments in space.
Certainly, none of this is to say that the business world has not received plenty of return on its involvements and investments in the field of engineering. Both industries have, in fact, reciprocated benefits quite well, and the result is a relationship that sees no end in sight. These are the basics of the relationship between the business and engineering worlds through time.