Innovation, risk mitigation and sustainability are three key themes that IHS Engineering360 editors will return to throughout 2015.

Make no mistake, we will continue to write extensively about all aspects of engineering, including aerospace, automotive, energy and natural resources, chemicals, infrastructure, environmental and general manufacturing, as well as topics related to automation, computer networking and supply chain management. But roughly every other week, at least one of our feature articles will explore ideas and strategies related to innovation, risk mitigation and sustainability.

To start, consider this quotation attributed to Henry Ford, whose great contribution was to conceive of an innovative way to assemble an already existing product.

“I invented nothing new,” Ford once said. “I simply assembled the discoveries of other men behind whom were centuries of work. Had I worked 50 or 10 or even five years before, I would have failed. So it is with every new thing. Progress happens when all the factors that make for it are ready, and then it is inevitable. To teach that a comparatively few men are responsible for the greatest forward steps of mankind is the worst sort of nonsense.”

InnovationClearly, innovation can be a key differentiator for design solutions and a way to leapfrog the competition and maximize profitability. But what’s the difference between true innovation in an engineering design sense and an especially effective product marketing campaign? How are innovation-focused design teams assembled, managed and inspired? How do time-to-market and cost-containment constraints affect the quest for innovation? These questions among others will be top of mind as Engineering360 contributing editors consider this theme in the coming months.

Risk MitigationRisk mitigation is a second theme with broad implications for engineers worldwide. We will look at topics that include the role of failure analysis in mitigating risk, the growing importance of cyber security across the value chain and the role that standards can play in minimizing risk. But we’ll also more broadly at risk mitigation and consider it in terms of hardening physical infrastructure and supply chains. Floods in Thailand’s industrial heartland and devastation brought by typhoons in the Philippines and hurricanes in the U.S. Northeast are reminders of infrastructure vulnerabilities and the role that engineering plays in mitigating increasingly severe natural disasters.

SustainabilitySustainability is a third theme that Engineering360 editors will consider on a regular basis in 2015. Results from the inaugural Engineering360 Pulse of Engineering research project reveal that issues related to sustainability, energy efficiency and environmental responsibility are key objectives for engineers worldwide. In many ways sustainability is part and parcel of both innovation and risk mitigation.

Articles keyed to these three editorial themes will be identified with icons. The graphics are reproduced here so you can see what to look for. Our deep dive into innovation begins January 6 with two feature articles. In the first, editorial contributor Larry Maloney talks innovation one-on-one with Brian Muirhead, chief engineer for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In the second, Bill Schweber recounts how John Houbolt’s persistence 50 years ago changed the way the American space program thought about a lunar landing. Lessons from his innovative way of looking at the problem are as relevant today as they were when Houbolt wrote a potentially career-ending letter to the space agency’s chief in which he made his case for he was right and his critics mistaken.

Innovation, risk mitigation and sustainability are engineers’ frequent companions. Let me know what you think of these initial articles as well as future articles by joining me in discussions at the Engineering Community at Engineering360.