Create the Future

Dr Margaret Liu, known as The Mother of DNA Vaccines, is President Emeritus of the International Society for Vaccines and scientific lead for the World Health Organisation drafting group writing guidelines on mRNA vaccines. In this episode of Create the Future, we speak with Margaret about all things mRNA vaccines and how they came to play a role in the largest immunisation programme in recent tim...

Charlette N’Guessan is the technology entrepreneur behind BACE API, a software that uses facial recognition and artificial intelligence to verify identities remotely. In 2020 Charlette was awarded the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Africa Prize, Africa’s largest prize dedicated to engineering innovation. While facial recognition software isn’t new, BACE API uses live images or short videos taken o...

Guido de Croon is an engineer and Professor of Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) at TU Delft who combines computer vision and robotics to create the world’s smallest flapping wing autonomous flying robots. In this episode of Create the Future, we speak with Guido about the challenges of miniaturising insect-sized MAVs, and explore the role drones could play in the future of spaceflight, emergency rescue,...

Naadiya Moosajee is a civil engineer and entrepreneur on a mission to fast-track gender parity in STEM. In 2005 she co-founded WomEng, a global non-profit organisation that aims to attract, develop, and nurture the next generation of women engineering leaders in an effort to foster growth in emerging economies and engineer a more inclusive world. In this episode of Create the Future, Naadiya expla...

Kari Byron is a television host and STEAM communicator (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) best known as one of the presenters of the popular science entertainment show “Mythbusters” which, over the course of 248 episodes and 2,950 separate experiments, helped inspire an entire generation of young engineers and scientists. Its combination of smart entertainment and accessible...

What if we could grow our own clothes? Suzanne Lee is a fashion designer who works closely with engineers, biologists, and material scientists to do just that. In this episode of Create the Future, we speak with Suzanne about biofabrication, a process that creates sustainable alternatives to materials like plastic and leather by engineering with life, not taking from it. We hypothesise the future...

Hugh Herr is an engineer, biophysicist, and pioneer in the field of biomechatronics - technology that marries human physiology and electromechanics to provide greater mobility for those with physical disabilities. A double amputee himself, Hugh has made breakthrough advances in bionic limbs and prostheses that interface with neurology, allowing both control by thought and sensory feedback. In thi...

A software engineer at Apple for over 16 years, Ken Kocienda was deeply involved with the development of the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Safari web browser. From the design of the first software keyboard to the invention of autocorrect, this episode is an insider’s account of the creative decision-making process at the forefront of technological innovation. In this episode of Create the Future,...

Janine Benyus has a message for engineers: Look to nature for inspiration. Biomimicry is the practice of learning from and replicating nature's forms, processes, and ecosystems to help solve some of the world’s most complex design challenges. By looking to the natural world and its extensive database of evolutionary solutions, we can improve the way we engineer everything from skyscrapers to solar...

Shah Selbe is a conservationist, engineer, explorer, and entrepreneur developing technology-based solutions to solve some of the planet’s biggest conservation challenges. A satellite propulsions engineer by training, Shah’s low-cost, often open-source solutions have been implemented in some of the harshest environments here on Earth, including oceans, deserts, glaciers and rainforests. His technol...

Chris Toumazou is one of the world’s leading medical engineers, recognised for his ingenious electronic medical diagnosis and therapy devices. His latest device is an innovative, lab-free, cartridge-based PCR test that combines advances in microfluidics, biochemistry, and electronic engineering to deliver test results in just over an hour, dramatically accelerating testing workflows. The same cart...

TIME Magazine’s first-ever ‘Kid of the Year’, Gitanjali Rao, is on a mission to create a global community of young innovators. At just 15 years old, Gitanjali has already invented an impressive number of life-changing tools. From a portable device that speeds up the process of lead detection in drinking water to an early prescription opioid addiction diagnosis tool, Gitanjali is no stranger to usi...

Henry Petroski is interested in engineering when it succeeds, but more so when it fails. A distinguished author and professor of both civil engineering and history, Petroski has authored 19 books and written hundreds of articles on the subject of engineering for newspapers, trade journals, and magazines. His books can often be found at the top of engineering ‘must read’ lists. In this episode of C...

Direct air capture (DAC) technology has been in the news a lot recently following the announcement of Elon Musk’s one-hundred million dollar carbon sequestration competition, but how does the technology work? In this episode of Create the Future, we are joined by Nathalie Casas, a chemical engineer and Head of Research and Design at Climeworks, the world leader in carbon dioxide DAC technology. Cl...

In this special episode of Create the Future we speak to the winners of the 2021 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering , the creators of LED lighting. Solid state lighting technology has changed how we illuminate our world. It can be found everywhere from digital displays and computer screens to handheld laser pointers, automobile headlights and traffic lights. Today’s high-performance LEDs are us...

Veena Sahajwalla is revolutionising recycling. As the engineering brains behind “green steel” and the world’s first e-waste microfactory, she is leading the way on “green materials” – products and resources made entirely, or primarily, from waste. From plastic bottle derived furniture to steel made from old tires, her goal is for people to see waste not as a problem, but as a useful resource. In t...

For Yewande Akinola MBE, engineering is all about staying curious, expressing creativity, and imagining the impossible. Yewande Akinola is an award-winning chartered engineer, communicator, and role model. In 2020, she received an MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honour’s list for services to Engineering Innovation and Diversity in STEM. Inspired to become an engineer owing to the intermittent water su...

With approximately 71 per cent of the Earth’s surface covered in water, the predictable and consistent electricity-generating potential of the oceans remains a largely untapped resource. In this episode of Create the Future, we speak to Sam Etherington, the engineer and entrepreneur behind Aqua Power Technologies Limited’s innovative wave energy generators. Inspired by the wingspan of a manta ray,...

The heart of the biotechnology revolution, biochemical engineering has seen the launch of entire industries. Biochemical engineers work to develop sustainable solutions to some of our greatest challenges – whether that’s creating better biofuels and biodegradable plastics, or advancing large-scale pharmaceutical manufacturing during pandemics.  From the discovery and manufacture of penicillin...

Standing a staggering 828 metres tall, comprised of more than 4,000 tonnes of structural steel, and setting nearly a dozen world records with its construction, the Burj Khalifa is immense. Not only is it a leviathan amid Dubai’s cityscape, but it currently dwarfs every other building on the planet as well. Even during the design process, the building grew from the initial proposal by almost the he...

Just as internet pioneer Vint Cerf is known for donning a three-piece suit, so too is this week’s guest known for their accoutrement of choice: a bow tie. Whether you grew up in the US or not, chances are you’ve heard of Bill Nye. His titular show, Bill Nye the Science Guy , ran for five years in the mid-1990s, winning 19 of the 23 Emmys it was nominated for. Its combination of comedy and accessib...

Today’s technologies would be considered magic to people just a few decades past, but the ideas behind them are often far from new. The promise of a driverless future, for example, may seem to many like it arrived in the last decade, but it’s been both “just around the corner” and symbolic of the future for the past century. The first driverless ground vehicle technically appeared in 1904, a radio...

Danielle George is a Professor of Microwave Communication Engineering at the University of Manchester and the incoming President of the Institution of Engineering and technology. Starting her career as a scientist, Danielle studied astrophysics at university. However, she quickly discovered the allure of engineering and, after choosing the more practical subjects during her studies, secured her ve...

Often considered to be the world’s first skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building was completed on 1 March 1885, on the corner of Adams and LaSalle Street in Chicago. At 138 feet (42m) high, it wasn’t the tallest building in Chicago at the time – but its historical significance stems not from its height, but its engineering. Made possible by several technological breakthroughs at the time, the Home...

Fold by fold, engineers have begun to recognise the innovative potential of origami beyond the traditional paper cranes and flowers. With its applications ranging from ingestible robots to deployable shelters, it is easy to see why the ancient art form has many excited for the future of robotics, medicine, and spaceflight. Inspired by unfurling insect wings, foldable structures have been used for...