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Building a sustainable future for the Engineering R&D industry
Building a sustainable future for the Engineering R&D industry

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Below are some of the learnings from the discussion on “Engineering the Future: Painting A 2030 Outlook” from the 13th NASSCOM Design and Engineering Summit held in Oct 2021

In this post pandemic world, often the question arises as to what are the engineering imperatives that will be instrumental in shaping the sustainable future of global enterprises. With the rapidly changing industry landscape, unlimited possibilities rendered by the advent of new-age technologies, rise of "Digital First" products, evolving customer expectations, and new business models, global enterprises are compelled to look beyond the conventional approaches to drive the future. The need of the hour is designing “products of the future” to support the sustainability goals and net zero emissions objectives. How quickly can businesses adapt and respond to this sustainability agenda will determine which of these enterprises will succeed and which will perhaps fail.

These last two years have affected many industries including aerospace and defence industry. Many accelerated digital adoption and remote working. Many companies in the aviation sector like Rolls Royce, whose business is dependent on long haul aviation, witnessed almost a 40% reduction in long haul traffic. Hence, many companies in the aviation sector had to diversify to business jet businesses as these businesses recovered quicker due to the safety provided by business jets during pandemic. These companies also explored other mobility options such as electric trains, micro grids by utilizing the existing engineering capabilities. They have also created and explored newer avenues post Covid.

 

In the long term, companies need to focus on sustainability. What are some of the steps that are taken by engineering companies, where there are technologically complex products? How are companies transitioning to a net zero state and what kind of innovation is done towards that step?

Companies like Rolls Royce have clearly demarcated steps to achieve Scope 1,2, and 3 emissions to net zero by 2050. It must be understood that aviation sector is difficult to de-carbonise, however companies are working towards carbon neutral programs even in aviation, aligning with global sustainability programs of the company. For aviation, there are 3 pillars of de-carbonization –

pillars

 

  1. First pillar is to continue to make engines and airframe combinations ever more fuel efficient and to continue working to finding more sustainable aviation fuels.
  2. Second pillar is that there should be a major ramp up of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), where the carbon does not come from fossil fuels but from atmospheric carbon.
  3. Third pillar is use of novel technologies including electric, hybrid electric hydrogen and other technologies. Exploring other energy sources like nuclear power and making it cost effective to manufacture power stations and deploy them into modern digital manufacturing methods. Other fuel-efficient systems should be made for other means of transport including luxury yachts, which are supplied with hybrid electric solutions.

 

How can enterprises manage their R&D and product development budget and build a sustainable company?

All companies, especially those in ER&D domain, need to plan their R&D budget and split it between sustaining engineering (continuous maintenance, monitoring), making sustainable products (fuel efficient if applicable), and on new directions emerging as a part of the net zero economy.

 

Another area of interest is newer concepts of mobility, especially for automotive companies, such as ride sharing, shared mobility, urban air mobility etc. How can companies make use of these to become more sustainable?

Currently companies are exploring electric and hybrid electric modes in a big way. This not only applies to the automotive sector, but also to sectors such as aviation. Air taxi and urban air mobility are being considered. In addition, companies are exploring other technologies such as e-VTOL technologies – electric vertical take-off and landing technology. These concepts are of vital importance in countries like India which are denser, population wise, and can connect cities through these low cost e-VTOL travel. This can also help emergency services like ambulances, which can help disseminate help and support quickly in emergency situations. To make this happen, more research into lightweight materials, newer manufacturing methods, newer digital capabilities, including using AI to reduce pilot workload in aviation etc is needed and by 2030, there might be a much different and changed view of urban mobility.

 

India has become a hotbed of digital innovation and innovation in ER&D with technologies increasing merging. Technologies, especially digital, have varied uses across different sectors, and India also has a talent pool to match. What can be the advice for India towards its strategy for the future?

There are 6 factors to be taken into consideration - 

factors

 

  1. Talent- There has to be a robust talent pipeline and without that one can’t even start. Investing in up-skilling, re-skilling and making the talent industry ready is a necessary step towards becoming a world leader.
  2. Entrepreneurial environment – for accelerating capability, one needs patient capital, and the ability to scale, either with govt or private investment. Creating the right entrepreneurial environment is necessary for innovation to flourish.
  3. Infrastructure – digital and physical infrastructure and the resulting connectivity is another necessary facet.
  4. Regulation – Removal of red tapism, ability to go entirely online will help many companies to set up and scale up faster.
  5. Cost effectiveness – ability to produce products in a country in a cost-effective manner is a necessity for many.
  6. Unique selling propositions – understanding our strong points and strengthening them is required.

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Vandhna Babu
Principal Analyst - Research

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