What is TE?

Transdisciplinary engineering

Transdisciplinary Engineering is an emerging approach that extends and evolves the initial basic concepts and practice known as Concurrent Engineering (CE). CE has matured and has become the foundations of many new ideas, methodologies, initiatives, approaches and tools. Generally, CE concentrates on enterprise collaboration and its many different elements; from integrating people and processes to very specific complete multi/inter/trans-disciplinary solutions, taking the user into account. Current research on CE is driven by many factors like increased customer demands, globalization, (international) collaboration and environmental strategies. The successful application of CE in the past opens also the perspective for future applications like overcoming natural catastrophes, sustainable mobility concepts with electrical vehicles, and intensive, integrated, data processing, with an increasing importance of Transdisciplinarity. 

User and application environments are more and more included into design and development to customize new products and implement solutions that are really needed and wanted. Research incorporates then also social science methodologies to acquire the necessary knowledge about users and context and to better implement solutions in their context. Engineering needs these approaches to be more successful with their innovation efforts. Most importantly, collaboration between different disciplines is needed to realise this approaches. Not one discipline can possess all knowledge necessary to solve the complex problem of our era. 

Transdisciplinarity is characterising modern research areas, in which physical sciences are integrated with social sciences, requiring mixed research and practice methods for achieving the work. It is expected to be a significant basis for future evolution, especially in all Engineering areas.

The ISTE website hosts a working definition document that seeks to provide a clear definition or scope of transdisciplinary engineering - a focal point for the community to discuss and debate as a means of better reflection on engineering practice in general. TE2024 will present an evolution of ideas in this area and there will be time to discuss and debate this during the conference and beyond.  

For a working guide to help ensure your submission to TE2024 is in scope for TE conferences please see guidance and templates under submissions menu or visit the Conference Theme page for more guidance.