Annual IET Partnership Event

Senior representatives from IET’s Academic and Corporate Partnerships attended the institution’s Annual Partnership Event last December, hosted by key members of the organisation’s staff including Chief Executive Nigel Fine and President Professor Andy Hopper. The keynote speech by Sheffield Hallam University’s Dr David James on the technologies that played key roles in the presentation of the London 2012 Olympics was followed by a networking lunch, which allowed partners to socialise with other members of their community.

Partnering Success

During his speech, Nigel emphasised that cooperation is at the heart of the IET and that there has been good progress with both Academic and Corporate Partners throughout the year. “We now have a total of 74 university departments engaged as partners. This continues to rise as more academic bodies see the value in constructively interacting with the companies who are employing their graduates,” he said.

“I am proud of the momentum we are gaining with IET Corporate Partners,” he continued. “The initiative was launched just one year ago and we already have a broad range of highly respected multinational companies as part of this programme.” “One of the reasons I know this scheme is really adding value is because we are seeing it spread beyond the realms of conventional engineering firms. For example, we recently started to work with the Metropolitan Police and the BBC. For them, the vision is to support engineers and technicians, who play vital roles in those organisations, to get personal recognition for their expertise.” “We are aiming to help them achieve professional registration, which in turn will raise the profile of engineering and technology in their organisations.”