Leadership and Innovation: The Needed Role for the Engineer and Scientist in Our Society

The proliferation of new technologies, one of the primary keys to modern societal growth, relies on the development of two individual but highly interrelated competencies: leadership and innovation. These two are the basis for the successful development of most of the major technologies in production today and, at their best, they are also the genesis behind most of the large commercial and industrial organizations currently operating in the global marketplace. It is the state of health of these two linked competencies that often determine the longevity and profitability of these organizations. The question should then be what role does, and will, the engineer and scientist play in this leadership driven innovation play and how will we be the architects of our own future. Have we done enough and what will scientist and engineers need to do in the future to continue a growth-based legacy?