Engineering contributes up to £646 billion direct Gross Value Added to the UK economy every year, which is more than 30% of total economic output. Labour market projections from Skills England suggest that engineering occupations will experience one of the highest rates of employment growth by 2030. Yet UK engineering has a persistent skills shortage and only 16.9% of the workforce are women.
One of the factors contributing to low uptake of engineering is outdated stereotypes and a lack of visible engineering role models. New polling, commissioned by the Academy, has shown that half of those polled couldn’t explain what today’s engineers actually do and almost as many (46%) say engineering is barely visible in public life. More than three-quarters dream of the sort of sci-fi inventions that engineers are working on becoming a reality, yet only a quarter actually believe such innovations are possible. National Engineering hopes to change that.
This year National Engineering Day will be marked by:
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A roundtable discussion at 10 Downing Street about how to create the next generation of UK engineering visionaries, hosted by Liz Kendall MP, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, and Science Minister and Chair of the QEPrize Foundation Lord Vallance KCB FRS FMedSci FRCP HonFREng.
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The launch of a new online AI-Z of Engineering, highlighting current and future engineering roles to inspire young people to consider engineering as a career. The AI-Z includes over 200 current and predicted roles that will shape a better future, in sectors ranging from tech and film, to fashion and sustainability.
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Publication of Engineers 2030, a report and recommendations exploring the skills needs of the UK engineering workforce in the 21st century and the changes needed to meet those needs.
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The announcement of a new national engineering and technology Skills Centre, led by the Royal Academy of Engineering, to provide learning resources and materials to colleges and universities, and direct training and upskilling support to engineers and technicians in industry.
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Innovation Late is in Liverpool, an evening extravaganza on 4 November enabling guests to experience and discover the innovations that are tipped to make the future a better place – with a series of talks from inspiring innovators and an exhibition of extraordinary engineering.
- A presentation by His Majesty The King of the 2024 and 2025 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, the world’s leading award for engineers and engineering, championing bold, groundbreaking engineering innovation of global benefit to humanity.
- The 2024 Laureates are wind turbine pioneers Andrew Garrad and Henrik Stiesdal, both recognised for their transformative innovations in advanced wind turbine technology, which has positioned wind power as a vital component of the world’s renewable energy mix.
- The 2025 Laureates are leading innovators in modern machine learning and AI: Yoshua Bengio, Bill Dally, Geoffrey Hinton, John Hopfield, Jensen Huang, Yann LeCun, and Fei-Fei Li, honoured for their pioneering contributions to the development of modern machine learning.
Dr Hayaatun Sillem CBE, CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering said:
“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. We're delighted to be launching an 'AI-Z' that highlights the role engineers play today and how they're shaping the future at a roundtable in Downing Street, and to be recognising the outstanding achievements of the 2024 and 2025 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Laureates with a ceremony at St James's Palace attended by His Majesty King Charles III."
“National Engineering Day reflects our commitment to build an engineering community fit for the future by encouraging more people to take up an engineering career and ensuring that engineers have the skills they need for tomorrow. Our Engineers 2030 report, published today, highlights how the engineering workforce must adapt to meet the challenges of the 21st century. We're looking forward to building on the findings through our new Skills Centre, an exciting partnership led by the Academy to accelerate progress towards closing the UK's longstanding skills shortfall and diversity deficit, and deliver the engineering talent the UK needs for its prosperity and security.”
Notes for editors
- Held every year since 2019, National Engineering Day is an annual celebration of engineering, dedicated to raising public awareness of the vital role engineers play in society, and broadening perceptions of what it means to be an engineer. National Engineering Day is enabled by funding from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, corporate and university partners, and individual donors.
- 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 the profession. 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.