Industrialisation and Technology Dynamics: Recent Research Trends

Industrial operations have evolved through massive transformations and in recent years, the rate of change has been so rapid, equally requiring rapid transformations in the engineering education system. This chapter focusses on the various industrial transformations, particularly the current Industry 4.0, its impact and implications on the education and training of engineering personnel. The increased interconnections between the various facets of engineering processes and training give rise to complexities, hence the need to decipher these in a systems thinking approach in order to comprehend the behaviour and use them ultimately to narrow the gap between industry and academia. The increasing complexities in industrial systems and their interconnections require an integrated and systemic approach, particularly in the training and acquisition of appropriate skills required to drive industry. This chapter also focusses on how the engineering education systems and skills acquisition have responded to the various transformations with a special focus on industrialising countries.