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| >> Philosophy April, 2001 Top |
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Engineering intellect/knowledge plays an essential role in modern economic
activities. Innovations based on engineering intellect/knowledge give rise
to prosperity, which is reinvested to give rise to new engineering intellect/knowledge.
It is this cycle that supports sustained economic growth, and leads to
greater well-being in the form of prosperity, happiness, and richness of
life for all humanity. Economic gain -prosperity- is born from the difference
that exists between "current and future value structures." The
development of new technologies and new products, in effect, creates this
"difference." These activities anticipate future value structures,
and create economic gain by closing the gap between existing and future
value structures. Engineering intellect/knowledge is no more and no less
than the anticipation of future value structures. The substance of what
we call "value added" is "the difference between current
and future value structures."
Part of the prosperity brought forth through engineering intellect/knowledge
is reinvested into the creation of new engineering intellect and knowledge.
Engineering intellect/knowledge created in this way continues in turn to
create new differences in value, and these differences continue to create
new prosperity. This structure is the essence of the cycle of engineering
intellect/knowledge and prosperity that supports sustained economic growth.
An endless active cycle of engineering intellect/knowledge and prosperity,
however, is not an inherent part of society's internal economic system,
which is directly tied into resources and the environment. Truly eternal
interactions of engineering intellect/knowledge and prosperity would only
be possible with an unlimited supply of resources and energy, and a unlimited
depository for waste heat and waste materials.
In order to create prosperity by closing the difference between future
and existing value structures, however, it is not enough simply to "know
about future value structures before others do." It is also necessary
to "develop future value structures in a form that people can enjoy."
For example, one must embody a future value structure in the shape of a
product, and develop it in a form that can be purchased in the marketplace.
People that anticipate future value structures before others may or may
not be the same people as those who develop future value structures in
a form that people can enjoy. There may also be cases in which a different
order is followed; namely, cases in which the form that should be developed
is known first, and the search for the knowledge required realizing it
comes later. In any case, "knowing future value structures" and
"developing future value structures in a form that people can enjoy"
go hand in hand, and only when they come together is economic gain created.
This is the "creation of prosperity through engineering intellect/knowledge,"
and is the activity that embodies "techno-entrepreneurship."
This is form of activity that the Foundation endeavors to award and encourage.
The quality of "techno-entrepreneurship" is not limited to those
individuals who have been successful in business. It refers to the essential
spirit of inquiry in which an individual attempts to bring concrete form
to engineering ideas, personally bearing the risks required to succeed.
An entrepreneur is a business leader who founds business ventures with
creativity and decisiveness, bears risks independently, and can clearly
demonstrate the ability to create new prosperity. Through its awards and
support, the Foundation emphasizes the role of techno-entrepreneurial individuals.
There are many cases in which engineering intellect/knowledge results from
the cooperation of specialists in a wide range of fields. Techno-entrepreneurship
fulfills an important role in the context of these cooperative activities
as well. Particularly in recent years, critical and challenging issues
in a wide variety of fields have become the starting point for cooperative
activities that mobilize all forms of intellect to resolve such issues
from the perspective of "value for the people." The Foundation
emphasizes efforts to investigate, propagate, and promote such activities,
and supports research as a means of creating new engineering intellect/knowledge
and providing value to people. |
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