By Diran Laolu

Why is the faculty housing the various engineering disciplines in Nigerian universities not called the Faculty of Engineering, but rather the Faculty of Technology? Although the latter may sound like a conventional name given to the faculty, there exists a thin line.

Engineering and Technology are closely intertwined, but they are not the same thing. The thin line between them becomes apparent when considering the concept of who creates knowledge versus who applies it.

Engineering is the disciplined application of scientific knowledge to design, build, and improve solutions; it is the scientific application of problem-solving. Engineering creates and optimizes many of the systems that Technology makes usable.

A blueprint once represented the beginning of Engineering; today, it may represent only the beginning of a conversation.

Technology, on the other hand, can be seen more broadly as a collection of tools, techniques, systems, and processes through which human knowledge is turned into practical capability. Technology provides engineers with the tools through which they design and innovate.

Where exactly does Engineering end and Technology begin?

Engineering and Technology are not synonymous. Engineering is concerned with designing and solving, while Technology is concerned with the tools, systems, and capabilities through which those solutions become possible. However, the distinction blurs when engineers design the very technologies they use, and technologies increasingly perform tasks once reserved for engineers.

Let’s consider a modern electric vehicle. The electric motor, battery-management system, braking system and vehicle structure involve engineering. But the software, sensors, lithium-ion battery technology, GPS, communication systems and manufacturing technologies are all part of the technological ecosystem surrounding the vehicle.

The interesting part is this, Engineering itself has become a form of Technology development. For instance, take artificial intelligence: an engineer may design a system that uses machine learning to control an autonomous vehicle. Is that Engineering or Technology? In this case, it is both. The Engineering aspect involves requirements, modeling, design, testing, safety, and optimization, while the AI technology provides the tools and capabilities used to accomplish that Engineering objective.

The same applies to Robotics, Renewable energy, biomedical devices, telecommunications, aerospace, semiconductor manufacturing, 3D printing, autonomous vehicles, computer systems and many more. In each case, engineering and technology continuously feed into one another.

The relationship can be viewed as a cycle moving from scientific knowledge to Engineering, and then to Technology. This is why separating the two completely can be misleading.

For example, the development of semiconductor technology enabled engineers to build increasingly powerful computers. Those computers then became engineering tools that enabled engineers to simulate aircraft, engines, buildings and electrical systems with greater accuracy. Those simulations subsequently produced better engineering designs. So the relationship is not a straight line. It is a feedback loop of various developmental processes.

Engineering is not simply “using technology.” This is an important truth, as Engineering is embedded in creativity, art, and the extent of human imagination.

Someone using a sophisticated CAD program is using technology. An engineer who uses CAD to model a component, analyses the stresses acting on it, modifies its geometry and determines whether the design satisfies safety requirements.

Likewise, using a smartphone is technology consumption. Designing the telecommunications infrastructure, processor, antenna, battery system or operating architecture that makes the smartphone possible involves engineering.

So, Technology gives us capability, but Engineering goes a step further to provide structure, purpose, and reliability in solving problems and breaking barriers.

The relationship between Engineering and Technology shows that they depend on each other, as Engineering develops technologies, Technology gives engineers new tools. New technology creates new Engineering problems and Engineering solves those problems, producing even newer technologies. 

In real terms, technology can exist without modern engineering: a bitter truth for some engineers who assume they represent the highest level of problem-solving and advancement.

Ancient civilizations, from Persia and Babylon to the Roman and medieval periods, built roads, bridges, irrigation systems, weapons, and machines long before Engineering became a formal profession.

They possessed Technology even without Engineering degrees or institutions, suggesting that Technology is historically broader than Engineering.

Engineering, particularly in its modern form, developed as scientific and mathematical knowledge was integrated into technological development. This shows that Engineering is an evolution of technological creativity. This is why Engineering is totally reliant on science, whereas Technology is not.

Beautifully, the boundary is becoming thinner as advancement persists. Today, the distinction is becoming even harder to maintain and invariably being ignored. While the traditional image of an engineer was based on calculations, drawings, blueprints, machines, and structures. Engineers work with AI, robotics, software, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, leaving the old boundary no longer clear.

The engineer of the past was imagined behind a drawing board, translating scientific principles into bridges and engines. The engineer of today may instead be surrounded by computer simulations, artificial intelligence, sensors, algorithms, and autonomous systems. Somewhere between the blueprint and the algorithm, the distinction between Engineering and Technology has become very blurred.

 Is Software “Technology” also Software Engineering ? Obviously Yes, as both involve systematic design, development, testing and optimisation of complex systems. Now consider an AI engineer developing a large language model. They may use mathematics, statistics, computer science, electrical engineering, machine learning, cloud computing, semiconductor technology

Where exactly do we draw the boundary? We often can’t.

Engineering is the bridge between knowledge and Technology. As science seeks to understand and explain concepts, Engineering asks what can be made from that knowledge. Technology represents what humanity has developed, not necessarily from scientific understanding or facts alone.

Science explains the world, Engineering designs what can exist within it, and Technology embodies what humanity has learned to make possible. There are overlaps, of course, which have brought about powerful conceptual frameworks that are being actualized over time.

Engineering and technology shouldn’t necessarily be viewed as competitors or separate disciplines. They form part of a continuous process through which human knowledge becomes practical capability.