How neuroinclusivity can enhance engineering

It’s no secret that UK industry has a skills problem. For years, companies have been reporting difficulties recruiting people with the experience they need, yet despite the best efforts of business, academia and professional bodies, progress towards bridging the gap remains stubbornly slow.

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As one of the world’s leading professional bodies for the engineering and technology sector, the IET has a significant stake in this issue. When the results of its own extensive annual skills survey are published in December it’s unlikely that the picture will have changed dramatically in the past twelve months.

What if there was a significant community of potential recruits, many with abilities ideally suited to engineering and technology careers, who are being hindered from entering the profession?

That’s a narrative which has often been applied to the low percentage of women in engineering, sitting currently at 16.5 per cent. Now, however, increasing awareness of neurodiversity is highlighting the extent to which the technology sector is missing out on another source of recruits.