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Sir James
Dyson is looking to double his engineering workforce to 6,000 by 2020
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Billionaire inventor Sir James Dyson is to put
his money where his mouth is by helping to bridge Britain's chronic skills gap
with the launch of a new university.
Sir James is ploughing £15 million over the next
five years into the Dyson Institute of Technology as he looks to double his
engineering workforce to 6,000 by 2020.
He told the Press Association that the private
sector had a duty to help plug the engineering skills gap because the UK needed
10 times as many engineers as it did 10 years ago.
"We are competing globally with Korea,
Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. It's all the major technology nations and we have
got to be better than them," he said.
A dearth of skilled engineers is seen throughout
developed economies, Sir James said, with Asian nations outstripping the west
when it came to the number of new graduates in the field.
"(The shortage of engineers is) a problem in
America and Europe and has started to become a problem in Japan.
"It seems that the fast growing economies or
emerging nations really recognize the value of engineering, but when you reach
security there is less interest in what makes you successful."
The Dyson Institute of Technology - which will be
based at Dyson's campus in Wiltshire - will take its first 25 students in
September next year.
As part of the course, students will not pay any
fees, be handed a salary and work alongside Dyson engineers on up-coming
products.
Sir James said the idea of launching the
university came after he visited the Government to "moan about the lack of
engineers". He was advised to take matters into his own hands.
The degrees will initially be awarded by Warwick
University, with Dyson applying for powers from the Department of Education to
create a full-fledged university.
But the Dyson Institute of Technology will only
gain university status if proposals in a Government whitepaper - Success as a
Knowledge Economy - make their way into law.
Speaking about the impact on the UK economy from
the fallout of the EU referendum vote, Brexit-backing Sir James said the pound
had been "talked down" and there was "no reason" for it to
fall.
He said there were no plans to bring the firm's
Malaysian manufacturing operation back to the UK following sterling's slump.
But he said he would consider setting up a
British manufacturing operation in the future if it was "the right thing
to do".
On automation, Sir James said people were wrong to
be concerned about the impact on employment from the rise of sophisticated
robots.
"A lot more of our production is fully
automated, but people are needed for other things," he said.
"We don't need to worry about automation or
robots at all. It increases the number of more interesting jobs for
people."
Jo Johnson, universities minister, said: "The
Dyson Institute of Technology will not only offer students the chance to study
on cutting edge degree level programmes, it will also play a vital role in
educating the next generation of much needed engineers.
"Our reforms in the Higher Education and
Research Bill, currently making its way through Parliament, will ensure
students can choose from a wider range of high-quality specialist institutions
that can seek their own degree awarding powers and meet students' diverse
needs; providing employers with the skilled graduates that will drive future
productivity and the economic prosperity of our country."
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| Sir James Dyson with the the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner which made him famous |
James Dyson – Industrial
Designer & Inventor
James Dyson is a British industrialist whose
claim to fame is the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner. Dyson’s invention
helped revolutionize the vacuum cleaners along with other appliances in the
world.
Dyson was born on 2nd May 1947 in Cromer,
England. He was a long distance runner. Dyson stated that he learned the
quality of determination from it. He went to the Byam Shaw School of Art for a
year after which he did courses in interior design and furniture design from the
Royal College of Art from 1966 to 1970. While he was there he got his first
idea of using cyclonic separation in a vacuum cleaner so that it would not lose
its suction quality as it picked up dirt. Dyson was very disappointed from his
Hoover Junior that continuously got clogged up reducing its suction after every
use. After five years of creating several prototypes, he finally launched the
‘G-Force’ cleaner in 1983. To his disappointment no manufacturer or distributor
was interested in his idea. Therefore he decided to launch his product in
Japan.
The G-force was manufactured in a pink color and
was sold for £2000. It won the International Design Fair in Japan. Dyson got
this technology patented in 1986. After not getting a positive response from
the major manufacturers, he decided to establish his own manufacturing company
in England. He got his first breakthrough from his television advertisement
that had the slogan ‘say goodbye to the bag’ a quality that attracted customers
more than the efficient suction quality of the product. But Dyson was more than
happy as long as his product was gaining popularity. The Dyson Dual Cyclone
turned out to be the fastest selling vacuum cleaner in the United Kingdom. When
he launched his product in America in 2002 it was an instant success and in
just three years managed to capture 20% of the market.
After Dyson’s success other companies started
selling vacuum cleaners with the cyclonic technology. As Dyson had the patent
for the technology he sued Hoover UK for patent infringement for which he got
£5 million. Dyson developed his vacuum cleaners by inventing new technologies
such as the Ballbarrow concept in his Dyson Ball which made the cleaner more
maneuverable. In 2006 he launched the Dyson Airblade which was a hand dryer for
public washrooms. In 2009 Dyson presented the ‘Air Multiplier’ technology which
was the first real innovation in fans in more than 125 years. He expanded to
make more products like the washing machine ‘ContraRotator’ however this was
not commercially successful.
Dyson received the ‘Prince Phillip Designers
Prize’ in 1997. He was also honored with the ‘Lord Lloyd of Kilgerran Award’ in
2000. The same year the University of Bath gave Dyson an honorary doctorate
degree in Engineering. He was selected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of
Engineering in 2005 and was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2007 New Year
Honors. He has been the provost of the Royal College of Art since 2011.
Originally published (Story 1) by Press Association UK and (Story 2) by Famous Entrepreneurs
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