Creativity and innovation are essential skills for young engineers to develop, according to a young engineer included in last year's listing of Australia's Most Innovative Engineers, published in create magazine.
"I sit on some committees for young engineers and I do feel that young engineers need to keep their minds creative rather than become indoctrinated into accepted practices," said Rahul Das, a mechanical engineer working with Rio Tinto.
"Once we start working we tend to follow rulebooks and standards but it is important to remember the first principles so that we can understand the intent behind the rules. By being recognised for innovation it promotes a culture where engineers can think out of the box to tackle the bigger problems."
Das was included in the listing for his immersive asset capture system which uses a 360-degree camera to take pictures of an area. It then integrates the images and a geo-positional signature to create a database of images that can be located on a map.
"This allows the users to be immersed in a 360-degree overview of the location even when they are away from locations," he said.
"This is coordinated with important asset data to provide a holistic overview. This is a huge asset for planning and sharing with people on site, in central engineering teams, vendors, contractors, etc. The system helps minimise rework, identify potential hazards and visualise every step in the process."
He felt honoured to be included on the list and says his superiors were elated.
"I received many messages of support and congratulations about my work from both my peers and superiors," said Das.
"It felt good to be recognised as an innovator within the company. My colleagues always tagged me as a person with new ideas and were extremely happy I was receiving recognition for it."
Interestingly, his career has taken an unexpected tack since the release of last year's list and he is currently working with an NGO in India helping solar lights reach urban slum communities.
"I firmly believe that the bottom of the pyramid offers huge scope for innovation and this is currently where I am working to make a difference," he said.
Nominations for the 2017 listing of Australia' Most Innovative Engineers listings are now open and will close on 10 March, so it is important to start working on your entry now.
Details on how to nominate can be found at: bit.ly/innovative17
[Rahul Das]