Systems Engineering Vision 2035 – Turning Fiction into Fact
SE has set itself an ambitious vision for 2035. “Engineering solutions for a better world” will require it to work well outside its conventional domains to address major societal and environmental challenges. The same ambition has been stated in the past and has not been realized. The current failure to advance SE methodology beyond its mechanistic roots suggests things are unlikely to be much different this time. To prevent Vision 2025 becoming a fiction, a radical re-orientation in thinking and practice is necessary. SE needs to embrace what systems thinking is saying about the nature of complex problems. It needs to appreciate the value of alternative systems methodologies that can be employed alongside SE to make the world a better place. SE Vision 2025 might then become a reality.
Michael C. Jackson is Emeritus Professor at the University of Hull and MD of Systems Research Ltd. He graduated from Oxford University, gained an MA from Lancaster University and a PhD from Hull, and has worked in the civil service, in academia and as a consultant. Between 1999 and 2011, Mike was Dean of Hull University Business School, leading it to triple-crown accreditation. Mike has been President of the International Federation for Systems Research and the International Society for the Systems Sciences. In 2011 Mike was awarded an OBE for services to higher education and business. In 2017 he received the Beale Medal of the UK Operational Research Society for ‘a sustained contribution over many years to the theory, practice, and philosophy of Operational Research’. In 2022 he received the Pioneer Award of the International Council on Systems Engineering for ‘the development of the foundations of systems engineering as author, educator and intellectual leader in systems thinking’. Mike is known as the leading figure in the development of ‘Critical Systems Thinking’ - a topic on which he has published ten books and over 150 articles. His latest book Critical Systems Thinking: A Practitioner’s Guide was published by Wiley in July 2024. He is Co-Chair of the UK Government Office for Science/SCiO ‘Systems Thinking Working Group’.