Cross-Disciplinary Thinking Can Shape Future Engineers, Says Mizoram Governor

Mizoram Governor General (Dr) Vijay Kumar Singh has called on young engineers to move beyond traditional academic specialisations and embrace interdisciplinary thinking, saying India’s future technological leadership will depend on professionals capable of working across conventional boundaries.

Addressing the 18th IEI Industry Excellence Summit & Awards 2026 organised by the Institution of Engineers (India) (IEI), General Singh highlighted the contribution of engineering to India’s development and urged the younger generation to build on the achievements of earlier engineers.

The summit was held under the theme, “Engineering India’s Global Footprint: Technology, Talent and Trust.”

General Singh said India’s engineering achievements have extended across sectors including dams, steel plants, highways, metro networks, renewable energy, telecommunications, the space programme, indigenous defence manufacturing and digital public infrastructure.

While India has made significant progress in infrastructure and technology, he said the responsibility for shaping the country’s next phase of growth now rests with its engineering talent.

The Governor pointed out that the boundaries between engineering disciplines are increasingly becoming less distinct. Civil engineers, for instance, are increasingly working with geographic information systems (GIS), sensors, artificial intelligence and climate modelling, while mechanical engineers are becoming involved in robotics and advanced manufacturing.

Electrical engineers are contributing to areas such as energy storage and smart-grid technologies, while software engineers are increasingly working across hardware systems, cybersecurity and physical infrastructure.

Against this backdrop, General Singh urged engineering graduates to develop capabilities beyond narrowly defined specialisations. He emphasised the importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration, experimentation and developing practical solutions to real-world problems.

He also called for greater focus on design thinking, field exposure, interdisciplinary projects and prototyping as part of engineering education.

Highlighting India’s ability to develop infrastructure at scale, the Governor said equal attention should now be given to maintaining and sustaining assets that have already been created.

He cited the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as an example of India’s engineering capabilities. While UPI is widely recognised as a fintech innovation, he said its functioning relies on complex engineering systems involving interoperability, distributed systems, cybersecurity, real-time processing and large-scale digital infrastructure.

General Singh also referred to India’s space programme as another example of engineering excellence, noting that it demonstrated the country’s ability to achieve technological milestones despite resource and technology constraints.

He said the next generation of engineers would need to combine technical expertise with adaptability and the ability to work across disciplines to address increasingly complex challenges.