Grand Challenges for Systems‐Engineering Research

Systems engineering is rapidly becoming recognised as a key discipline in a number of sectors including Aerospace & Defence, Automotive, Construction, Energy, Transportation, Consumer Electronics, IT, Pharmaceutical & Healthcare and Telecommunications. This trend is driven by growing system complexity and the need for optimal integration of people, processes and technologies. Consequently, the shear scale of future system complexity is likely to exceed our current understanding of systems engineering and the associated tools/techniques we employ. The number of overall system parameters to be controlled as part of the overall design process (as various system optimisations are undertaken) is likely to be overwhelming. Whilst systems engineers will be expected to manage system complexity the underpinning understanding of systems science, technology and tools must evolve to take account of the increasing systems complexity. Unless enabling research is undertaken there is a growing risk that available tools will be inadequate for the future. This paper builds on feedback from numerous research presentations, industry discussions (across different sectors) and various subject matter expert data collection exercises. From this work it has been possible to propose a number of Research Grand Challenges in systems engineering in order to inspire a research agenda for systems engineering. In this context, a Research Grand Challenge pursues a series of goals that are recognised as being one or two decades in advance; their achievements are regarded as major milestones or breakthroughs in the advancement of knowledge or technology.