Future Perspectives in Systems Engineering

Systems Engineering (SE) is a well-established field of research and practice. Nevertheless, the theory underlying SE is experiencing significant development, directly and in association with advancements in closely associated research domains. In this final Chapter, a socio-technical perspective is applied to identify and describe major trends in SE, as well as identifying future challenges in theory and application of SE. In doing so, trends are identified for (1) strategic issues from a product and process lifecycle perspective; (2) stakeholder representation and involvement; (3) current and future technologies employed to enable SE; (4) knowledge and skills as contributed by people and teams; and (5) structures to enable transdisciplinary activities supporting a socio-technical system perspective in systems development. Challenges remain present regarding these dimensions; SE requires methods and tools that are suitable to support the dynamic and evolving nature of the systems that need to be developed including the development system itself. Besides, management of SE projects for solving complex societal problems requires people with vision and power to motivate and mobilize the necessary people and value their respective input in the overall task. Transdisciplinary Engineering is introduced as an approach in which Systems Thinking and System Approaches interoperate, taking into account the different levels of abstraction of the system of focus.