Engineering and entrepreneurship: Is it an Oxymoron?

Abstract

What good are ground-breaking engineering technologies and innovations if they hardly make it to the market and few benefit from them?

In this year’s Professor Chin Fung Kee Memorial Lecture, Tan Sri Dr Francis Yeoh examined the complex correlation between engineering and entrepreneurship, arguing that they are intertwined but by no means easy bedfellows.

Contending that engineering carries its true worth only if it could be capitalised upon to help transform and better societies and individuals, the acid test he applies for all engineering is practical application, commercial viability and long term sustainability.

Tan Sri Francis enlightened the audience on how YTL became a conglomerate spanning 10 different engineeringbased industries. How by sticking to its core competencies in engineering, YTL first became a pioneer in construction innovation and eventually, assumed the role of trailblazer in many of the industries it expanded into.

He revealed the rationale, criteria and process that YTL uses to earmark and adopt engineering technologies to ride with and excel in. Which, invariably, are always in concert with commercial savviness and solid business fundamentals. He also revealed how YTL capitalises on engineering competencies to shape, drive and scale respective YTL businesses.

The world will never know just how many ground-breaking technologies and innovations in history failed to see the light of day, because the engineers who invented them were not entrepreneurial or business savvy. For this reason, Tan Sri Francis argued: “Engineering and Entrepreneurship: it is not an Oxymoron”