- While engineers are busy making sci-fi dreams a reality, half of Brits say they don’t know what engineers do.
- New survey suggests three-quarters of Brits dream of sci-fi inventions becoming a reality, yet only a quarter of us actually believe the tech is possible.
- This National Engineering Day, the Royal Academy of Engineering has launched the AI–Z of Engineering: an inspiring digital map of over 200 current and predicted roles showing how engineers are shaping today’s – and tomorrow’s - world of tech, film, fashion and sustainability.
From flying cars to invisibility cloaks, engineers are busy building the future. Polling for National Engineering Day by the Royal Academy of Engineering suggests that 78% of Brits are imagining a world of sci-fi tech, including a time machine (28%), teleportation devices (32%) and flying cars (20%). But most of us don’t realise it could be a reality sooner than we think, thanks to engineers.
While engineers are laying the groundwork for everything from quantum teleportation to invisibility cloaks, half of Brits admit they couldn’t explain what today’s engineers actually do and almost as many (46%) say engineering is barely visible in public life. Outdated stereotypes mean too few young people are entering the profession, yet these imagined technologies could one day improve lives and transform how we live for the better. From cleaner travel and secure communications to smarter, more sustainable materials, engineers will be crucial to making these a reality.
That’s why the Royal Academy of Engineering has launched the AI–Z of Engineering for this year’s National Engineering Day: to bring the definition of an engineer firmly into the present day and beyond. Created with input from more than 100 engineers, the digital guide showcases the extraordinary breadth of modern engineering: from developing innovative materials to reduce plastic waste, to designing VR training games for footballers, and creating smart water systems that ensure not a drop is wasted.
Drawing on engineers’ own insights and predictions, AI was then used to imagine how these roles could evolve in the decades to come. By changing perceptions and showing how creative, vital and wide-ranging engineering really is, the Academy hopes to inspire the next generation of engineers - those who will turn science fiction into fact and solve the future challenges we’ve yet to face.
And some of that future is already taking shape. Teleportation might not yet look like the dramatic “beam me up” moments imagined in Star Trek, and invisibility cloaking may not yet rival the magic of Harry Potter’s cape, but engineers and scientists are edging closer than many people realise. Far from distant fantasy, the principles behind both are already being explored in labs, from quantum teleportation to metamaterials that can bend light and waves around objects.
One of the researchers turning that sci-fi vision into science fact is Professor Yang Hao from Queen Mary University of London: a leading UK engineer and Royal Academy Fellow.
Professor Yang Hao FREng, a world-leading expert in metamaterials, explains:
"My team and I are engineering materials that can control how electromagnetic waves behave, effectively bending, focusing, or even guiding light around objects in remarkable ways. It's not magic, it's where advanced physics meets creative engineering. The same science that might one day make invisibility cloaks possible is already helping us improve communications, create more sensitive sensors, and use energy more efficiently. Every step brings us closer to innovations once thought impossible.”
With engineers across the globe nudging sci-fi concepts like flying cars closer to reality, and technology advancing at lightning speed, the opportunities for the next generations of budding engineers are exciting.
Leading futurologist Tracey Follows, who has been recognised among Forbes’ top 50 Female Futurists, has been working with the Academy on the AI-Z of Engineering, looking at how engineering could shape the world of a very distant tomorrow, by delving into the AI-Z guide and weaving this together with societal and technological trends. When discussing her findings, she said:
“At present, it feels like engineering is undergoing an incredible transformation. Until now, engineers have built the machines and systems that shape the world we live in, but now they’re creating the frameworks for the world to come - many of which are aided by AI. We will see engineers blending technologies and perspectives in ways that we never imagined, meaning we could see buildings behaving more like living organisms, or shared dream experiences which turn sleep into an immersive form of entertainment.
“The further we look ahead into the future, the more extraordinary the possibilities could be, and engineers truly are a reminder that the next generation doesn’t just inherit the future, they build it too.”
The Academy’s polling research also shows that over two-thirds (69%) of Brits believe engineers work in traditional industries like buildings, infrastructure and cities. However, engineering touches almost everything we use, wear and see in our everyday lives, from fashion and beauty to film and design, yet only a quarter of us (23%) are aware of this. The AI-Z of Engineering hopes to help change this.
Dr Hayaatun Sillem CBE, CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering said:
“Nobody can be in any doubt that technology is transforming our world, and that means that engineering is also constantly evolving. We're delighted to be launching an AI-Z that highlights the role engineers play today, and how they're shaping the future, often without people even realising it. National Engineering Day is a great opportunity to celebrate the difference that engineers make to our lives, and to inspire a new generation by showing how broad, creative and vital engineering can be.”
The AI–Z of Engineering - available on the This is Engineering website - introduces some of the engineers creating your favourite future tech and will continue to evolve as a living compendium of engineering roles.
Notes for editors
- *Of those who would like science fiction to be made real, 27% of us think that a teleportation machine could be made real, and 24% think that a time machine could be made real.
- Invisibility Cloaks: Professor Yang Hao FREng, from Queen Mary University of London, is a leading UK engineer and Royal Academy Fellow who specialises in metamaterials -engineered materials that can bend light and waves around objects. His current research explores the fundamental physics and AI-driven design of materials that may one day enable applications once imagined as “invisibility cloaks.”
- Flying cars: Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow Dr Sergi Pallejà Cabré is shaping the future of flying cars. At the University of Southampton, he’s tackling one of their biggest challenges - cutting the noise of electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft to make urban air travel clean, quiet, and sustainable.
- Teleportation: Alex Clark Professor of Quantum Technologies at The University of Bristol, says, “My team and I are already working towards quantum teleportation and have been able to teleport single particles of light so far, transferring them instantly from one place to another across long distances. While we can’t yet apply this technology to people, the scientific foundations are already being laid, meaning we are one step closer to the public’s sci-fi dreams - whether they know it or not!”
- Tracey Follows: Tracey Follows is a globally recognised futurist, ranked in the Global Gurus Top 30 Futurists for 2025 and named in the Top 50 Female Futurists in Forbes. CEO of Futuremade, she has worked with brands such as Virgin, Amazon, and Google. Now a futurist on BBC Radio 4’s Dough exploring the future of consumer products, she is the author of The Future of You, host of the award winning tech podcast of the same name, a guest lecturer at London Business School and Visiting Professor in Digital Futures and Identity at the University of Staffordshire.
- About The Royal Academy of Engineering: The Royal Academy of Engineering creates and leads a community of outstanding experts and innovators to engineer better lives. As a charity and a Fellowship, we deliver public benefit from excellence in engineering and technology and convene leading businesspeople, entrepreneurs, innovators and academics across engineering and technology. As a National Academy, we provide leadership for engineering and technology, and independent, expert advice to policymakers in the UK and beyond. Our work is enabled by funding from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, corporate and university partners, charitable trusts and foundations, and individual donors.
- About National Engineering Day: Since its inception in 2019, the Royal Academy of Engineering has introduced an annual celebration of engineering, dedicated to raising public awareness of the vital role engineers play in society. The celebration day aims at correcting the misconceptions that engineering is recognised not just as a discipline, but as a driving force to inspire young and future engineers by spotlighting diverse role models and opportunities within engineering. National Engineering Day is enabled by funding from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, corporate and university partners, and individual donors.
- Additional Notes: The research was conducted by Censuswide, among a sample of 2000 UK Respondents (Nat Rep 16+). The data was collected between 15.08.2025 - 19.08.2025. Censuswide abides by and employs members of the Market Research Society and follows the MRS code of conduct and ESOMAR principles. Censuswide is also a member of the British Polling Council.