Mr Edward Ho
Chairman, Polytechnic Engineering Promotion Task Force,

Distinguished Guests, Principals, Teachers, Students

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good morning.

INTRODUCTION

I am pleased to be here this morning to join you at the Opening Ceremony of the Engineering Week 2006.  This is the third time the polytechnics are organising such an event.  The purpose is to reach out to school students and enthuse them in engineering and related fields.  First let me declare my interest, I am an engineer by training, so I am naturally biased.

Last year, I shared a story about a group of engineering students and science students riding a train.  This year, I will tell a different story.  Once upon a time, an econs student, a sociology student and an engineering student went on a picnic together.  It was a great day.  When they arrived, they took out their stuff, spread the ground sheet and started to prepare for lunch.  They took out the bread, they took out the can of sardine and it was at this point that they realised that they had forgotten to bring the can opener.

The sociology student began to grumble. He said, “It is the responsibility of each member of the group to do his part to preserve the interest of the group, if each member cannot be trusted for the small things he is responsible for, such as bringing the can opener, how then can the group function together as a team… blah, blah, blah.” Then the economics student spoke, “Come on, let’s not exaggerate.  After all, is it really a problem?  First, we do not know if the can of sardine is indeed edible.  Let’s assume it is.  We still do not know if it tastes good at all. Let’s assume it does.  But then, we are still not sure if it is enough for the three of us, so we have to assume it is.  Having made so many assumptions, it won’t hurt to just assume that we have a can opener.” Well, the engineering student ignored all their arguments, quietly picked up his jack knife, plunge it into the can and pried it open.

You see, engineers focus on solving problems, less talk, more action.  I hope there are no sociology or economics students here today.   

IMPORTANCE OF ENGINEERING FOR OUR FUTURE

Engineers played an important part in our nation building process.  Since the 1960s, Singapore began to industrialise rapidly. Engineering skills were much needed in the manufacturing sector of our economy.  The availability of qualified and skilled manpower was one key factor in our success in attracting foreign investments.  As we evolve into a knowledge based and innovation driven economy, technological knowledge and skills are becoming increasingly crucial to our progress.  

In 2005, manufacturing contributed 27% to our GDP. We have become a world-class manufacturing hub. Even though we form only 0.07% of the world population, we have established leadership positions in several industries. For example, Singapore manufactures 70% of the world's offshore oil rigs and 25% of the world's hard disk drive media.

The services sector is also being transformed into a high value-add and high technological content industry. For example, Singapore is the leading aerospace repair and overhaul centre in Asia. We account for 6% of the world's market share in aerospace maintenance, repair & overhaul output. With the proposed integrated resorts, the service industry is poised to become more sophisticated, and will require more engineering and technical manpower.

QUALITIES OF A GOOD ENGINEER

There are three types of people in the world.  The first type are people who make things happen, the second type are those who watch things happen, and the third type are those who have no idea what happened.  Engineers are those who make things happen.  However, what makes a good engineer?

Three distinct attributes are key to a good engineer.  Firstly, analytical ability. A good engineer must be able to analyse big problems and break them down into smaller ones and solve them systematically. Employers like to pass big problems to engineers, but big problems tend to overwhelm us.  Engineering training will equip you with the skills to analyse the problem in a systematic way, break them down into manageable issues and then find the appropriate solutions for each of them.

Secondly, creativity.  A good engineer must be able to think out of the box and look for unconventional solutions.  Standard solutions are easy to arrive at but if the problem can be solved by standard solutions, usually it would not be a big problem and it would not require a good engineer to deal with it.   As a good engineer, you must be able to challenge the assumptions, look for new solutions and better solutions.

Thirdly, sense of realism. It is important to be analytical and creative.  But a good engineer must also be realistic.  He must know the difference between what is possible and what is practical.  A product design may be very attractive, but it may be very costly to produce. Great value can be created by being practical in designing the solutions.

In addition to the three factors above, analytical ability, creativity and sense of realism, a good engineer must also be a good communicator, a good people manager, and a team player to succeed in a corporate environment.  You will acquire these skills through an engineering education.

ACQUIRING THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVES

Let me now turn to some misconceptions about engineering career. The first misconception is that employment prospects in engineering are somewhat limited.  I have mentioned earlier that manufacturing will continue to be a pillar of our economy.  Leading global and local companies are investing heavily in technology-intensive operations in Singapore.  There is thus no shortage of job and career opportunities for engineers both here in Singapore and in the region.

The fact is that engineering graduates enjoy high demand and good employability.  The yearly employment surveys done by the polytechnics show that both employability and salary of engineering graduates are among the best.  The most recent survey indicated that fresh engineering diploma graduates earned about $1,750 on average, with those who have completed national service earning about $2,000.  The salary is comparable to that offered to some university graduates.

The second misconception is that engineering jobs are very demanding. In today’s competitive environment, there are no easy jobs, engineering or otherwise. Everyone is expected to give his best.  However, with knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy, engineers are increasingly required to think, plan, design and communicate, more than just manual work.  Many work with state-of-the-art equipment and cutting edge technology.  So engineering today demands not so much manual work, but intellectual ability and capacity for innovation.

The third misconception is that a person trained in engineering can only take on an engineering job and career for the rest of his life.  This cannot be further from the truth !  An engineering education is a broad-based education.  Many engineers take postgraduate courses in management, business or other fields. You may have read about our local entrepreneur, Sim Wong Hoo, Chairman and CEO of Creative Technology, who made waves in the multimedia revolution.  Sim is a graduate of the Ngee Ann Polytechnic and was trained in engineering. His technological mind and business acumen have driven Creative to be a world leader in digital entertainment products.  His innovations have brought him global opportunities beyond our shores. Today, Creative is the first Singapore company listed on the US NASDAQ, employing more than 5,000 people world-wide.

If you want a career that is challenging and has great potential for personal growth, engineering is an attractive choice. Consider the numerous options you have in Engineering. Singapore has a base of more than 7,000 multinational corporations and over 100,000 small and medium enterprises within a highly compact city. Many of these companies are in the growth industries. These include Biomedical, Chemicals, Electronics, Environmental Services, Info-communications & Media, Logistics & Transport Engineering, and Precision Engineering. The prospects for these sectors are bright as our government is promoting more R&D activities to capitalise on new technologies like nanotechnology and alternative energy. But we will need more engineers to contribute to these industries and to keep Singapore ahead of the competition.  So I encourage you to consider Engineering as a career option for your future.

Engineering training will prepare you beyond an engineering career.  Personally, many of my contemporaries who are successful bankers and businessmen have found that their engineering education have given them an edge. Our local newspapers often carry feature articles on many successful entrepreneurs who were engineering trained.

In fact, engineering skills are useful beyond your career.  The problem solving skills, creative mind, realistic approach and people management skills you acquired through engineering education are basic life skills that will give you a clear advantage in dealing with many challenges in life, be it in your career, in your family or in your social life.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I am glad that the polytechnics are going to great lengths to jointly reach out to our students and enthuse them in pursuing an engineering education.  Engineering Week 2006 is part of this effort.  Let me thank and congratulate the Engineering Task Force led by Mr Edward Ho for its comprehensive efforts to reach out to students, parents and the public.  I am sure all of you will find the week-long activities useful in providing insight into the opportunities that engineering education offers and the contributions of engineers to our society, our economy and our future.

On this note, I would like to commend the five polytechnics for jointly staging this event and it is my pleasure to declare the Engineering Week 2006 open. 

Thank you.