In praise of China's engineering

Country on the cusp of producing engineering wonders, says former bp ceo

China is emerging as an engineering powerhouse with the potential to produce top-notch solutions that will make a significant impact globally, says John Browne, former chief executive of BP.

Lord Browne, who is also chairman of trustees for the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, a global prize launched in the United Kingdom in 2011, says that in China "there is some very good engineering. This is something that has happened over the past 20 years.

John Browne says in China the scale of engineering is very impressive, and sectors like software and mobile platforms are all growth areas to keep an eye on. Cecily Liu / China Daily

"As the economy liberalized, and as more people went into high-end engineering, people began to focus on standards."

Browne says engineering is simply the application of scientific knowledge in transforming people's lives, which makes the commercialization and marketing of products and services very important in achieving wide use.

The million-pound ($1.35 million; 2 million euros) Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, launched by a cross-party lineup of leaders from all three UK political parties, was first awarded in 2013 to five engineers.

The trio of Robert Kahn, Vinton Cerf and Louis Pouzin received the prize for their contributions to the protocols that make up the fundamental architecture of the Internet; Tim Berners-Lee for the creation of the World Wide Web; and Marc Andreessen for creating the Mosaic web browser.

"The prize is designed to inspire more people to go into engineering. It combines the fruits of discovery, laboratory, innovation and the need to improve humanity," Browne says.

He says in China there are already many good examples of engineering emerging, citing the achievements of telecommunications company Huawei and computer technology company Lenovo.

Huawei, founded in 1987 as a manufacturer of phone switches in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, has since expanded its business to include building telecommunications networks.

As a company that highly values technology and innovation, Huawei invests 10 percent of its annual revenue in research and development, which in 2013 amounted to $5.4 billion. In last 10 years, Huawei has invested more than $20 billion in R&D.

The company has more than 70,000 employees directly engaged in R&D worldwide, with an international network of 89 centers, according to Huawei.

While Huawei's overseas expansion is largely attributed to organic growth, Lenovo's overseas growth has relied heavily on its $1.25 billion acquisition of IBM's PC division in 2005.

The acquisition not only gave Lenovo ThinkPad laptops and tablets, which were popular globally at the time, it also gave the company sales, marketing and technology teams in many international markets.

Today, Lenovo is a popular consumer choice for its laptops and tablets in the United States, Europe and Africa. As a company that values innovation and engineering, it has also launched many products for consumers outside China, such as laptops in power-starved Africa that can be used for long periods on a single charge.

China is also showing its engineering prowess in the auto industry, Browne says.

Many Chinese carmakers that greatly value engineering have established overseas R&D centers to work with global talents. Chang'an Automotive has an R&D center at the University of Nottingham, and SAIC Motor has an R&D center in Birmingham that was created through its acquisition of the UK's MG Motor.

Browne says the competitive costs of Chinese-manufactured products and solutions offer a great advantage because consumers have greater accessibility to them.

"I think great engineering is something that works at the right cost, and it has to be reliable. I think one big advantage in China is the scale of the market that allows people to experiment, innovate and learn very quickly, and also to reduce costs through economy of scale."

The market has been a factor in advancing engineering solutions and inventions in the US that now have significant global impacts, he says.

"As engineers in China learn more, they create more competition, and consumers can become more discriminating. That thus puts more pressure on engineers to make products better and better."

Another factor advancing engineering development in China is the large supply of engineering talent.

"I think innovation is all about having great people who are always unsatisfied with what they are doing. I can see this happening in China, with great people like Jack Ma (of Alibaba)."

He says in China the scale of engineering is very impressive, and sectors like software and mobile platforms are all growth areas to keep an eye on.

Browne, who was born in 1948 in Hamburg, gained a first class bachelor's degree in physics at the University of Cambridge and holds a master's degree in business from Stanford University in California.

Browne joined BP as an apprentice in 1966 while still at university. He remained with the corporation until 2008 when he stepped down from his chief executive role.

Browne is currently managing director and managing partner (Europe) of Riverstone Holdings LLC, a private equity firm, and chairman of the British shale gas driller Cuadrilla Resources.

Browne says he first went to China in the late 1970s as a part of a business delegation and has witnessed the massive changes in the country over the years, both in terms of its economic growth and level of internationalization.

"It was a very different place. I remember there were so few white people in China that people would stare at you. There were lots of bicycles and everyone dressed up the same," he says.

Browne attributes the great changes in China to the great aspirations of Chinese people.

"They want to do better than their parents, they want to create a different life, but they want to do it the Chinese way," he says.

And with this mindset, Browne is confident that China will one day produce globally celebrated engineers.

"China compares itself with the rest of the world, and there is nothing like a comparison to drive people forward," he says.

cecily.liu@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 02/20/2015 page20)