Mizoram Governor General (Dr) Vijay Kumar Singh has urged the next generation of engineers to embrace interdisciplinary thinking, saying India’s future technological leadership will depend on professionals who can work across traditional academic and professional boundaries.

Addressing the 18th IEI Industry Excellence Summit & Awards 2026, organised by the Institution of Engineers (India) (IEI), General Singh highlighted engineering’s vital role in India’s development and encouraged young professionals to carry that legacy forward. The summit focused on the theme, “Engineering India’s Global Footprint: Technology, Talent and Trust.”

General Singh said Indian engineers have contributed to major achievements across several sectors, including dams, steel plants, highways, metro networks, renewable energy systems, telecommunications, the space programme, indigenous defence manufacturing and digital public infrastructure.

He stressed that although India has achieved significant milestones, today’s engineering talent must lead the country through its next phase of growth.

The Governor noted that traditional boundaries between engineering disciplines continue to fade. He said civil engineers now increasingly work with geographic information systems (GIS), sensors, artificial intelligence and climate modelling, while mechanical engineers increasingly contribute to robotics and advanced manufacturing.

Electrical engineers, meanwhile, are working on energy storage and smart-grid technologies. Software engineers are also expanding their roles into hardware systems, cybersecurity and physical infrastructure.

General Singh urged engineering graduates to move beyond narrowly defined specialisations. He called on them to collaborate across disciplines, experiment with new ideas and develop practical solutions to real-world challenges.

He also called for engineering education to place greater emphasis on design thinking, field exposure, interdisciplinary projects and prototyping.

Highlighting India’s ability to develop infrastructure at scale, General Singh said engineers must now give equal attention to maintaining and sustaining existing assets.

He cited the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as a major engineering success story. While many people view UPI primarily as a fintech innovation, the Governor said its success depends on sophisticated engineering involving interoperability, distributed systems, cybersecurity, real-time processing and large-scale digital infrastructure.

General Singh also highlighted India’s space programme as an example of engineering excellence. He said the programme demonstrates how Indian engineers have achieved major technological milestones despite resource and technology constraints.