Matrix - Northern Ireland Science Industry Panel

Advanced Engineering (Transport) Horizon Panel

ADVANCED ENGINEERING (TRANSPORT) HORIZON PANEL

Northern Ireland has a long and justifiably proud tradition of world class engineering. Since the late nineteenth century through to the present day this region has been synonymous with engineering excellence in the fields of automotive, marine and aerospace transport technologies. In recent years, of course, much has changed. The days of mass employment based on low skills and low wages in heavy engineering are over. We simply cannot compete with the low wages and low production costs offered by the rising economies of China, India and the Far East.

But rumours of the decline of Northern Irish engineering have been greatly exaggerated. We still have considerable strengths in terms of Advanced Engineering and it will be one of the most important sectors for the future of the Northern Ireland economy. There are currently around 25,000 employees in more than 130 companies with a combined turnover in excess of £3.4 billion per annum. And crucially, if we get our strategy for Advanced Engineering right, the majority of future employment in this sector will be at the higher value added end of the engineering spectrum, not only in terms of the design of innovative new products, but also making sure that we adopt state of the art manufacturing processes, making full use of automation and robotics to improve the efficiency and performance of the sector as a whole. This might ultimately mean fewer numbers than in the past, but they will be in specific niche sectors and sub-sectors where Northern Ireland leads the world - thus delivering increasingly well paid and sustainable jobs to the region’s economy.

History shows that Northern Ireland’s Advanced Engineering firms are innovative, flexible and adaptable to change. That is why I believe that my colleagues and I on the Advanced Engineering (Transport) Horizon Panel – by bringing together the R&D expertise of leading engineering firms with the R&D excellence in our 2 universities – can bring forward future focused recommendations to secure the prosperity of the sector in the context of Northern Ireland’s future knowledge economy.