Engineering The Future

Episode 44: SPOTLIGHT - OSPE's Research and Innovation Task Force

• Ontario Society of Professional Engineers • Episode 44

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At OSPE, advocacy is our cornerstone, driving us to create change and progress within the engineering community. To fulfill this commitment, we've established five task forces, each focused on conducting research and providing policy recommendations in areas critical to engineers in Ontario.

In this episode, we spotlight the work being done by OSPE's Research and Innovation Task Force. Host Jerome James speaks with  task force chair Beatrice Sze, who shares her insights on the groundbreaking work being done to advance research, innovation, and technological excellence within the engineering profession. 

From artificial intelligence to clean technology, discover the key initiatives and projects the Task Force is currently working on, and the promising emerging technologies they are monitoring.



ENGINEERING THE FUTURE
 EPISODE 44: OSPE’S Research and Innovation Task Force

JEROME JAMES

This episode of Engineering the Future has been brought to you by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization. NWMO is the national organization responsible for safely managing Canada's used nuclear fuel, a critical component of Canada's long-term sustainable energy strategy. Want to learn more about NWMO's plans for the future? Visit nwmo.ca.

FEMALE NARRATOR
This podcast is brought to you by OSPE, the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, the advocacy body for professional engineers in the engineering community in Ontario.

JEROME JAMES

Welcome to Engineering the Future, a podcast brought to you by the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers. I am your host, Jerome James. At OSPE, advocacy is our cornerstone, driving us to create change and progress within the engineering community. To fulfill this commitment, we've established five task forces, each focused on conducting research and providing policy recommendations in areas critical to engineers in Ontario. With us today to help shine a spotlight on the work being done by OSPE's Research and Innovation Task Force is Beatrice Sze, a professional engineer and lawyer who brings a wealth of experience from both the engineering and legal sectors to her role as Task Force Chair. Beatrice, welcome to Engineering the Future.

BEATRICE SZE

Thanks, Jerome. Long time listener.

JEROME JAMES

So let's jump right into it. Can you provide an overview of OSPE's Research and Innovation Task Force and its objectives?

BEATRICE SZE

Yes. The Research and Innovation Task Force is one of OSPE's oldest task forces. It was established to spearhead initiatives that advance research, innovation, and technological excellence within the engineering profession. Its objectives are fivefold. The first objective is to identify research opportunities that might be available to engineers performing research and innovation. The second objective is to foster innovation and collaboration between engineers, researchers, academia, and industry partners. The third is develop policy and advocacy positions relating to research and innovation for engineers. And the fourth is to develop professional development for engineers. relating to the Engineering Academy, the OSPE podcast and EngTalk and other initiatives. And the final objective is to foster industry partnerships. So this would be establishing strategic partnerships with industry leaders, research institutions and government agencies to leverage resources and expertise for the benefit of engineers doing research innovation.

JEROME JAMES

Excellent. So tell me more about you and the task force. What motivated you to take on that role as chair of this task force?

BEATRICE SZE

Yeah, so I'm interesting in that my career has really been on developing technical advocacy and helping technical experts find their voice. I'm a nuclear engineer by trade. I helped to develop robots for our can-do reactors and I did quite a lot of R&D as an engineer. in that role. And then I went to law school and I became a lawyer. And a large part of lawyering is advocacy. And so the marriage of these two things fits very well in the chair position of this task force because I see my role as helping engineers find their voice and ensuring that voice is clearly heard.

JEROME JAMES

Fascinating, fascinating. So what would you say is the current landscape with regards to the Research and Innovation Task Force as it is today? Like, what are the key focuses, the areas that are being worked on right now?

BEATRICE SZE

So I would actually be cute and say that engineers working everywhere are doing research and innovation. There isn't one sector where development isn't happening. Mining, material science, civil engineering, and of course, computer engineering is seeing a lot of development. But if I were to focus on two areas, I think it would be artificial intelligence, as well as the counterpoint to that, cybersecurity, protecting data, users' data. The second major area is in clean technology. So everything to do with helping to combat climate change. So carbon capture technologies, more resilient and energy efficient infrastructure solutions are going to be the areas of greatest growth, I think.

JEROME JAMES

Right, right. What are some of the key initiatives and projects the Research and Innovation Task Force is currently working on?

BEATRICE SZE

So very recently, we had a policy win at the provincial level. We brought one of our task force members who went through our white paper and podcast process, who was advocating for a reimagining of the way distributed wastewater was managed. There's a sewage, right? Basically, the idea is that our sewage infrastructure is quite out of date. And with the Ford government's commitment to building new homes, we are suggesting that the infrastructures to support those new homes, including our sewage infrastructure, could do for some updating. That was very well received. Following our engagement, we saw that the federal, the provincial government committed to spending another $625 million specifically for water innovation and research. And so that's something that we continue to support. That particular engineer and subject matter expert has been invited to engage federally as well. And so we are looking forward to supporting him in that regard. Another initiative that we're working on is we recently came back from Ottawa with OSPE's first federal lobby day where we spoke to federal MPs. And the position that we brought forward on behalf of our experts was that we need a national cybersecurity strategy. This is to follow the national artificial intelligence strategy that was rolled out by the liberal government recently. Artificial intelligence is very powerful and very exciting, and we in no way want to diminish that. But as technologists, artificial intelligence sort of draws upon data. It's hungry for data and it uses the data that it finds to innovate. There is a counterpoint to that, of course, which is protection of data so that it's only the people who are supposed to be accessing that data that are in fact accessing it. And that industry is the cybersecurity sector. Right. So these are the two main initiatives that we are working on.

JEROME JAMES

So what happens with all this information and work that you guys are doing? Are there industry partners that you guys work with or academic institutions, government agencies? What happens with these innovation recommendations?

BEATRICE SZE

Yeah, so one of the things I'm most proud of, having been chair for this last year and also being a chair of the Data Working Group for two years, is the white paper process that we've developed with engineers. Many other professions do provide white paper products to the general public to give people a sense, a taste of what engineers are thinking about. Lawyers do this, doctors do this, to provide like general information on public health, things that are of interest to those who need access to the justice system, that kind of thing. Engineers are starting to do this as well, and we were a big proponent of that on my task force. One of the ways that we do all of these things, that we engage industry partners, governments, academic institutions, is through this white paper process and dialogue. Some examples of this are my very first year, when we published four reports, there were four or five So we've published four reports on artificial intelligence, what it is, data governance. We provided the most up-to-date overview of the law from some legal experts that I brought. We talked about the economic opportunity that an AI, like a data based industry could provide Canada. And then we talked about some of the risks to civil society, right? And these four reports were then given to some four or five US colleges who reached out to say, hey, we have a couple of engineering professors who would like to use this as a capstone or a project for data governance within their engineering curriculum. And so, you know, with permission from OSPE and also the subject matter experts, we did do that. And we understand that this has formed the basis for some aspects of the engineering curricula in a couple of U.S. colleges. So that's one way. And then I mentioned the government engagement earlier, both provincial and federal level. When it comes to industry partners, We are currently partnering with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce to sort of be part of their committees and task forces relating to artificial intelligence, as well as a number of international organizations, one of which is called ISACA, which is an international sort of benchmarking and standards organization. And they have a subgroup, which is a privacy group. They have asked for some of our work as well, and we've done a bit of knowledge sharing with them. There may be future opportunities for collaboration. So, you know, it really comes down to being willing as engineers to share our thought processes around these areas and get out of the quantitative analysis that we like to do and just sort of sit down and write and communicate our ideas clearly in the public forum.

JEROME JAMES

So you've talked about this a little bit already in your answers, but Can you tell me about some of the more promising emerging technologies that the task force is monitoring or involved with?

BEATRICE SZE

I think for me, and this is what's exciting to one may not be to others, but for me, I think the quantum computing piece, we've published a few pieces explaining what quantum computing is and the potential that it has to transform all computation. It's very, very interesting. And that's Tina Decker is a young associate at a law firm who has a background in in this area that she's been sharing with us. And so I think she'll continue to share that perspective on what the technology is. That's one. The second is carbon capture is something that is very exciting as well. We have a lot of homegrown talent and we're looking to see, we have, you know, we have received the interest of some of those engineers who are working in that space and we're hoping that they will publish and share some of their their research or just tell us what's going on in that respect, because it sounds like there is some work being done to make Canada a leader in carbon capture.

FEMALE NARRATOR

We hope you're enjoying this episode so far. At OSPE, we're here for you, making sure government, media and the public are listening to the voice of engineers. You can learn more at ospi.on.ca.

JEROME JAMES

 How does Task Force members, including yourself, stay abreast of new technologies and developments in engineering and innovation?

BEATRICE SZE

So as a chair, I do a lot of reading and I do a lot of listening to people who are way smarter than me. So I'm following a lot of the national, international think tanks, CIGIE here in Canada, IEEE, a lot of the, you know, a lot of the think tanks based in Washington and California and also Europe as well. Like I try to keep abreast of all the different jurisdictions that might have relevance to Ontario engineers. But also just our subject matter experts, our members, OSPE members, are very much invited to the table to share a perspective that they've been working on in their own industries and their sectors. And we kind of create a very open environment for folks and companies to to provide their offering of whatever solution they may have or perspective they might have. It's a bit of a grassroots movement, but I think it's a very authentic one, a very one that's very true to the engineering spirit. Our professional culture is very much one where we are able to sort of come out from the fold and provide a perspective on new technology or a proposed solution. And then also, you know, have somebody who disagrees come forward and provide a counterpoint and critique it. Right. That's how we do design reviews for, you know, aerospace, for aerospace applications, for submarine vehicles and all that. That's kind of the engineering way. So. I read, my leaders read, and then we just invite everyone to participate.

JEROME JAMES

Excellent. Can you talk about the policy and advocacy on policy changes, that kind of pipeline that you guys work on? Like how, how does that work? And are there specific policy positions that you as a task force are championing that you'd like to see changed at the provincial level or federal level?

BEATRICE SZE

Yeah, so at the start of my term, I identified four main areas that we would focus on for over the course of two years. The first was data innovation, right? to continue the work that we had done when I was a data working group chair. So this is AI, this is quantum, this is anything to do with data innovation. The second was cybersecurity, so data protection, the innovation around data protection, which had resulted in our advocating for the National Cybersecurity Strategy, which we ironically see that the federal government has also announced a national cybersecurity strategy from the Treasury Board down, like for the government itself, it was going to, it is now moving towards an enterprise, like as itself an enterprise, having a cybersecurity strategy, which is great. And then third was clean tech. We wanted to really invite and highlight anybody that had any thoughts on clean technology. And so this is where Jim Hotchkiss position on distributed wastewater management really shone through. We have not to say he was the only one. We have some other really great positions on the life cycle of batteries. Right. We aren't talking enough about how we're going to recycle the batteries that we are going to be implement, like bringing into the ecosystem of our economy through EV, like a heavy emphasis on EVs. So that was the three main issues that were identified in January. And then the fourth piece was on how we can consider integrating equity, diversity, and inclusion principles into engineering design. And that results in a white paper sort of critiquing our GO Transit system on the size of the gaps and how accessible really our platforms are for wheelchair or mobility-challenged folks, mobility-challenged riders. And that has resulted, I think, in some internal discussion at Metrolinx as well, where they are relooking at some of those points that were raised in that white paper. So, you know, how we came, like, what was the process like? These were the four main focuses that I decided upon when I started as chair. And I think we've done pretty well in all four sectors, if I may say.

JEROME JAMES

Wonderful. So what kind of opportunities are there for engineers to get involved in research and innovation, both within the task force or in society more broadly?

BEATRICE SZE

Yeah, well, all of our task forces are actively recruiting right now. We're having a major recruitment drive. So you'll hear from the other task force chairs in this series. So thank you very much, Peter and Jerome, for giving us space to talk about what we love to do. Yeah, I would say just get involved. Just email advocacy at OSPE.ca and just indicate that you're interested. And if you have, if you've heard something, if you've liked what you've heard from anything I've had to say or Steven Pepper or Carl, any of the other task force chairs, just indicate that and they'll connect you with us. Apart from that, I would say very broadly to your earlier question, how can engineers expand their impact? I think something you might want to consider is like, look at some of the profiles of the folks that are doing this work. We're all volunteers, but I think we're seeing a little bit of a change of the people that are At the table, engineers are often siloed or like put into a corner of being kind of like these techie nerds that kind of stay in their lane. But we see a lot of like great young folks on my task force who have combined their engineering, electrical engineering degrees, computer engineering degrees with a master's in public policy. You know, we're seeing a blending of the disciplines. I myself, I'm a bit of the old guard. I'm like the like the elder millennial. on the team. But I did it classically. I did like, you know, my mechanical engineering, the mechatronics community. And then I did like, I shoehorned JD in afterwards. But there are a lot of interdisciplinary postgraduate programs now that are really encouraging folks to really wrestle with this. How do we weave public policy approach to some of these technical problems? So it's kind of cool if you're ever looking for inspiration of what to do next or like where you can go in a career or how you can pivot. Yeah, check out some of the human beings too, that are absolved.

JEROME JAMES

Excellent. Awesome. So from a goals perspective, what do you see the Research and Innovation Task Force achieving in the next calendar year?

BEATRICE SZE

Well, I've just been elected to the board, and so Beatrice is taking a step back from the task force to focus on the board work that will be very fulsome for my time. So I'm very hopeful that the work will continue. We've had an amazing kind of growth in the last two or three years. We went from four members and one blog post to 26 members and 16 reports and like I think five or eight podcasts and interviews. So that's a really good direction to move in. The critique, of course, is that it's a little bit disparate. It's unfocused, which I wouldn't say is is untrue. However, you kind of need this innate growth. You need this churn. You need this grassroots movement of people coming forward to tell you about things you didn't know, like quantum computing, like sustainable cybersecurity, like distributed wastewater management, right? Like things where engineering R&D shines is we can tell you what's sexy before it's sexy, right? And then we hope that with enough of this kind of environment, you can have people who can curate and choose and decide what to put forward as key cornerstone advocacy pieces on behalf of the profession. So I would hope that this evolution, this growth will continue. There is a fantastic team in place. There are really passionate people who are doing this work across all our task forces. So I'd say if you ever want to really change the world, right? If you kind of believe that engineers can change the world for better, and you wanna know maybe how you might do that, reach out and join one of OSPE's task forces today.

JEROME JAMES

Great, and how do you envision the role of research innovation shaping the future of the engineering profession? And what role do you see OSPE playing in that future?

BEATRICE SZE

Yeah, I've had a lot of conversations like this over the years. And like any organization, no organization's perfect, right? So there's going to be all kinds of ways to complain about any gathering of human beings, I think. But given where OSPE sits in our regulatory landscape, right, just to remind our listeners, engineers are a self-regulated profession. Professional Engineers of Ontario is our regulator. Their job is to protect the public from us, not necessarily to advocate for us, though they can do that. But their primary mandate is to protect ordinary citizens from engineers being unethical or sort of pulling the wool over their eyes, right? As they should. And so the counterpoint is to have an advocacy body whose sole focus is to promote engineers and why they're wonderful and why we should get paid all the good dollars and why we should get why should we should be in every room. Right. And that is OSPE. And so there are other organizations. There's alumni organizations. We've all you know, there are great schools. We're very proud of the schools we went to. There's IEEE. There's industry specific organizations. But there's only one organization that purports to be the voice of all of engineers. and engineering graduates in Ontario. And governments want to hear from them, right? I can say with some amount of authority that governments do want to hear from applied scientists right now. And that's what engineers are. They're dealing with complicated problems and they'd love to hear from technical experts who have a perspective, an objective, nonpartisan perspective that can help build a better society. The last thought I would say is, the last point I would leave you with is, You know, we are the only profession that has, as part of our oath, a duty to the public good, right? The public interest. Doctors swear an oath to protect the lives of their patients. Lawyers swear an oath to protect the interest of their clients, and so too with accountants. But it is only engineers that have a sworn duty to protect the public interest, whatever that means. So we do grapple with it. you know, day in and day out as part of the fabric of our professional culture, right from our undergrad till now, whether we know it or not. And so given how important that is and how fuzzy it is, we need to have a place where we can speak to these issues. And I think OSPE is that place.

JEROME JAMES

Beatrice, thank you for shedding light on the vital role your task force is playing in driving forward engineering research and innovation in Ontario. It's been a great conversation.

BEATRICE SZE

Thank you, Jerome.

JEROME JAMES

And as always, thank you to our audience. We really appreciate your ongoing support. And whether you're listening to us on YouTube or your favorite podcast app, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. We love hearing from you. I'm Jerome James. You've been listening to Engineering the Future, and we'll see you next time.

FEMALE NARRATOR

From all of us at OSPE, the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, thanks for listening. Please be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode.