Editorial Message from Engineers Week Chair John Browne

Of all the world’s great professions which can claim to have contributed most to human progress? To me the answer is self evidently the profession of engineering.

Engineers have turned ideas into reality in ways which have improved every aspect of human life. Our homes and cars, our hospitals and communication systems are all products of the skill of engineering – the magical ability to transform concepts and possibilities into practical, working goods and services. Behind every step forward in human life stands an engineer.

BP is proud to be a company founded on engineering. Across many disciplines – from the reservoir engineer who works to develop resources in the deep water of the Gulf of Mexico to the chemical engineer who creates processes to produce clean fuels, to the individuals and teams who design and build worldwide communications networks - we rely on the skills which only qualified engineers can bring.

I am delighted to chair Engineers Week 2005. Our aspiration is that by demonstrating the importance and excitement of engineering we will be able to raise the status of those already working in the profession. We also want to attract the attention of the next generation – the young men and women whose work as engineers will shape life in this country and internationally throughout the twenty first century.

There are huge challenges ahead. The world has to feed, house, and provide light, water and mobility for a global population which rises by 250,000 a day. All that must be achieved without destroying the environmental balance on which we all depend. Of all the skills which will be necessary to meet those challenges, none are more important than those of the engineer. The challenge is daunting, but the opportunity is thrilling in its scope and the potential it offers for individuals who want to make a difference.

John Browne

John Browne is Group Chief Executive of BP p.l.c.

Meet the 2005 EWEEK Chairs