The newly appointed president of the World Federation of Engineering Associations (FMOI), María Jesús Prieto Laffargue, visited Argentina and visited the venue where the World Congress and Exhibition ENGINEERING 2010-ARGENTINA will be held. Besides, she spoke about her professional activity, her new role in the World Federation, her projects and the expectations she has set on ENGINEERING 2010-ARGENTINA.

J: Why did you decide to get so actively involved in FMOI after so many years in the private sector and your impressive track-record?
 JMPL: Basically, in the last twenty-five years of my professional life I have taken on high level responsibilities, I have shared those responsibilities with my active participation in Spanish institutions, associations and organizations that had the purpose of boosting civil associations’ participation in policies and in decisions, with more or less success. As an engineer in telecommunications I have actively participated in the Telecommunications Engineering Association, in three or four associations and then I was elected president of the Engineering Institute of Spain (IIE), which comprises all the Engineering Associations that have existed in Spain since the end of the XIX century and beginning of the XX century. The IIE is member of the European Federation and also member of the World Federation. It was then when I started to get involved in the world issues.

J: And how does this new responsibility have influence at the personal level?
JMPL: No doubt, in a time when societies are so complex and so interdependent, engineering is a global activity. In recent years we have seen that the problem is detected, the solution is sought with an engineer but it might be designed in different places, that is why I say it is a global activity. As all global issues, they are simple and complex at the same time and they require engineers’ participation, not only from different disciplines but also from different cultures. Therefore I thought that one of the ways to make this profession advance was to take part in global goals.

J: What are your main expectations and projects from this new position?
JMPL: My small target would be, in the first place, to be helpful to the members; we have to start by giving value to those who form the federation. And in the second place, to take on a clear responsibility in front of the international associations in order to solve the big issues of today:  overexploitation of resources, how to face demography, how to face disparities and how to make it possible that at least everybody gets the quality of life that just a few have achieved so far. That is undoubtedly done through the engineering profession which attempts to do useful things, to optimize resources and to use technology as a means to solving problems.

J: Now, talking about the World Congress and Exhibition ENGINEERING 2010-ARGENTINA, Why has Argentine be chosen as venue for this important event?  
JMPL: To me it was a satisfaction and an effort because the first time the possibility of choosing this country was raised, was in Chicago in 2006. Usually the FMOI, apart from its technical and non-technical annual meetings, holds an Engineering World Convention every four years. For some time we have been thinking of the possibility of generating these meeting more often. We can annually hold some world convention but we need to get support. At the meeting held in Chicago, an argentine delegation applied for it, they expressed their wish to organize this congress which coincides with a relevant date for Argentina (Celebration of the Bicentennial). At the beginning we hesitated because Argentina is not known by all the world neither is argentine engineering or the productive processes performed here, then together with UADI’s president we presented the Executive Committee with the reasons why we believed Argentina could be a suitable place to hold this meeting and finally it was approved.  

J: You mentioned that argentine engineering was not well known, In what sense?
JMPL: Yes, what happens is that the countries that are part of the FMOI are 98 among which are Cape Verde, Zimbabwe, Canada and several Asian countries that visualize Argentina as a strong country in the agro-food business but with little added value industry in engineering. The level of education of disciplines taught here was also unknown; the degrees were thought to be outdated. But in my opinion, for instance the energy sector in Argentina undoubtedly has the necessary autonomy to stimulate innovation, besides I think that it can contribute because it has a vision which is substantially different from other countries’. That is why I think the most active members of the Federation- China and India- can learn a lot from Argentina since this is a very large and different country. In turn Argentina can be enriched by other countries’ contributions. We can all profit from this complementarity. We are convinced that the 2010 event can be very profitable. As from the beginning I have been interested in holding this meeting in Argentina because of its complementarity and because I think it is another model of country that should be included in the technological community.