Pan American Federation of Engineering Societies
Publication: Leadership and Management in Engineering
Volume 9, Issue 3
Abstract
Technology can improve lives; however, the aggregate value of technology is a clear advantage for the more developed economies due to their abilities to incur the high cost of investing in innovation. Only a better understanding among all nations will improve the balance of living and finances of the world. Corruption is often the major obstacle to effective technology transfer. The Pan American Federation of Engineering Societies was formed to give a united voice to the national engineering associations in the Americas. Addressing corruption in the engineering/construction industry is imbedded in several of the organization’s goals and the Federation’s new program is the establishment of an Anticorruption Task Force.
Great changes are occurring in peoples’ quality of life through technology. Instead of the increasing consumption of available natural resources, humankind presently has at its disposal, products in which knowledge and technology are aggregated in forms never before realized. Instantaneous global communications, new chemical and pharmaceutical products, intensified production, transport, and reduced consumption of energy, improvements in agricultural productivity, and break-through discoveries in medical science are all notable examples.
Looking to the future, genetics—when combined with computer science—offers enormous possibilities for stemming the problem of hunger in the world. It also offers larger possibilities for the diagnosis and cure of diseases currently still rampant worldwide. Nanotechnology is becoming an important collaborator with medicine.
To technology and knowledge one must add new management styles to run the institutions and the new societies. Technological changes will be coming even faster, and will affect our societies and organizations, and our cultures themselves, more and more, through changes in paradigms. Technology and knowledge start to unveil a rich and promising future for humanity. Technology’s influence on our social, economic, and political future will change forever the structure of society. We must be prepared for it.
Despite modern technology, almost half of the world still is hungry. There are more than two billion people all over the world below the poverty line. It has been noted that the fastest way to eliminate poverty is to eliminate corruption. Corruption occurs in all human activities, but is especially prevalent in the engineering/construction industry. Technology has also improved our ability to destroy human life, through wars. The defense industries are also plagued by corruption. Excessive urbanization is responsible for the rapid increase in the number and size of slums, where people live in subhuman conditions. Corruption allows many of these unsustainable developments to take place, and harbors substandard construction and materials, which kill people when they fail.
Globalization brings with it improvements to our societies as well highlights of their shortcomings. Nature has been modified to increase financial returns and to test technical ideas, with little regard for social and environmental issues. Employment is too often treated in the analysis of a company’s bottom line, just like any other item, without regard for hunger, education, or human dignity. Genetic engineering opens the unimaginable potential to lower the costs of and ease access to basic needs. To these pluses and minuses, one must add poor distribution of resources, not only within nations, but also among nations. If the major differences among those with everything to lose and those with nothing to lose persist, regional and international social conflicts will prevail. New ethical rules must be established now.
It is a well-known fact that the aggregate value of technology is a clear advantage for the more developed economies due to their abilities to incur the high cost of investing in innovation. The seven wealthiest countries are responsible for 90 percent of worldwide investments in research and development. The United States alone represents almost half of this total. The 29 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (19 percent of world’s population) were responsible for approximately 99 percent of the 400,000 new patents registered in the last year. The return of profits on technology-based services and products is concentrated within the strongest economies, and is becoming the main factor in the social and economic unbalance among nations.
Although technology is available to and used by more and more people—entirely changing the way they live—the income from technological developments stays in the hands of a few. The huge investment needed for innovation is an almost impossible task for the poorest countries. Only a better understanding among all nations will improve the balance of living and finances of the world. Corruption is often the major obstacle to effective technology transfer.
The Role of the Engineer in the Development Process
The engineer has played a fundamental role in developing the quality of life we enjoy today as a result of the technological development of goods and services. Engineers transform the knowledge developed in laboratories into products that will improve peoples’ lives. They are the silent link to our transformation into this modern world. Our society has tended to emphasize the negative aspects of technology. Too often, one hears only of natural resource depletion, the lack of commitment to social matters, the absence of ethical practices, and the misuse of technology; however, these result from the actions of agents of power and of production and not from the technology itself or from the engineers who are frequently blamed for them.
Engineers are committed to people. The great areas of engineering: civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, as well as management, are all geared toward the well-being of society. Engineers balance societal needs, the environment, and sustainable development jointly. They do not consider them separate and apart from one another. Rather, engineers perceive them as being intrinsically linked to the transformations that they promote. On the other hand, there is a need for more and more companies to be involved in technological innovation, in the context of the globalization, and in seeking that all populations may make use of technology for their own services and products. This trend will increasingly launch the engineer into his mission of integrated coordination of large projects, comprised of the technical and social aspects as well as sustainable development principles.
Ironically, even with the high ethical standards of most engineers, corruption plagues our industry.
Pan American Federation of Engineering Societies
UPADI (União Panamericana de Associações de Engenheiros; Pan American Federation of Engineering Societies) is an organization of institutional, multicontinental, and multinational character. Its basic role is to express the ideas and eagerness of the national engineering associations in the Americas by melding them into an organized and homogeneous Pan American voice at the highest possible level.
The Mission
UPADI’s mission is to coordinate and integrate the engineering associations in the Americas, as well as those of other national and international entities, respecting their regional sovereignty, and applying knowledge and technology for the benefit of the social well-being of all people.
Goals
Addressing corruption in the engineering/construction industry is imbedded in several of the UPADI goals. The goals of UPADI are to:UPADI has established two objectives directed at corporate leadership and at improving its external image. These are needed to renew its ability to influence others. UPADI’s management must develop integration and strengthening programs for the entity. The integration actions will lead to a stronger and more vigorous UPADI and as such they should be given top priority.
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Promote the graduation of new engineers, emphasizing the quality of education, social responsibility, and sustainable development;
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Pursue the expansion of educational and employment opportunities so that the younger generation may engage professionally in engineering;
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Stimulate the cooperation among the American engineering associations and other associations, universities, research and development centers, companies, and governments to stimulate research and development;
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Reinforce the image of the engineer as the honest coordinator of the great projects strongly involving technology;
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Contribute to the reformation of those international rules that decrease the wealth gap among populations;
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Expedite the diffusion of knowledge and of technology so that all populations benefit from their advantages;
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Stimulate the exchange and the transfer of technology among nations;
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Stimulate the creation of regional engineering associations and decentralize UPADI’s operations; and
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Understand the specifics of the organization’s members, the countries, the regions, and ways of communication for improved integration of our countries and populations.
The current organization of UPADI also provides a basis for reflection and suggests possibilities when we look to arrive at a rational set of activities. As an example, regarding geography, there are five regions:UPADI will be strengthened when each national entity acts on international themes under UPADI’s sponsorship. Therefore, it is of the highest interest that UPADI promote and champion integrated international activities of the member-associations, pursuing goals of joint and common interest to national, regional, and Pan American engineering. Addressing corruption is a key theme of UPADI’s actions. In this way, engineers shall serve humankind and their own highest objectives.
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North area: Canada, United States, and Mexico;
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Central area: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama;
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Caribbean area: Aruba, Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Trinidad-Tobago;
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Andean countries: Bolivia, Colombia, Equator, Peru, and Venezuela; and
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Conesul area: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
In addressing this purpose of serving, UPADI will be able, as the representative of the engineering societies of the Americas, to lead a movement that generates the development of programs that reduce national and regional asymmetries, decrease poverty, eliminate hunger, prevent and mitigate the effects from natural disasters, and improve the conditions of basic sanitation (water and sewage), health, nutrition, access to schools, and more. In order to succeed with this movement, we must address and eliminate corruption. The UPADI program will result from proposals from each member association in each one of the five geographical regions, under the leadership and the coordination of the area vice president. The plan is to show that the engineering community in the Americas is an effective agent to improve the living conditions for the people of our hemisphere. One new program is the establishment of an Anticorruption Task Force in UPADI.
Themes will be established. For each area of concern, intermediary and final goals will be defined. Progress will be achieved through national and regional seminars and meetings. In each meeting, the exchange of successful and failed experiences in each country and region would be provided under the general coordination of the UPADI board.
The formulation of themes such as addressing corruption, the national and regional discussions, and the participation of representatives and delegates from all the international institutions at each event will give a larger dimension to the effort.
Communication is basic to UPADI. The goals of UPADI’s communication strategy are to strengthen the ties of union, exchange, and participation among representatives of the national engineering associations in the Americas. The aim is to supply guidelines and policies for organized action for Pan American progress. Understood as a process that involves messages, their origins and destinations, communication for UPADI becomes more complex and crucial due to its complex, multinational, and multilingual makeup. Communication through the World Wide Web has the great possibility to integrate all members of UPADI. The Web facilitates the dissemination of news, documents, and UPADI’s agendas, and provides a forum for manifestations and debates, sometimes in real time. The organization members of UPADI should participate when communication opportunities occur. UPADI communication channels (Web site and bulletin) are open for all members to identify those matters they judge important, and matters of import can be communicated simultaneously to the press, the Webmaster, and UPADI’s headquarters.
Seminars and conventions are also an important form for gaining personal knowledge, exchanging information, and invigorating UPADI. At a September 2006 meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, UPADI issued several strong position papers that showed a commitment to join others in the engineering/construction industry in addressing and working diligently to eliminate corruption.
Biographies
Claudio A. Dall’Acqua is director of Dall’Acqua Engineering in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and is past president of UPADI. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected]
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Leadership and Management in Engineering
Volume 9 • Issue 3 • July 2009
Pages: 136 - 138
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 20, 2009
Accepted: Apr 3, 2009
Published online: Jun 15, 2009
Published in print: Jul 2009
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