The system concept has existed for several decades now, but is still a viable concept to be used to denote a problem area and to adopt a holistic view. The essence of a system is that it consists of elements and relationships between these elements, and that it exerts a function in its environment, provided it is an open system. A system can be defined at different layers of abstraction consisting of subsystems, which themselves may consist of subsystems again. Themost complex level includes human beings. The system concept is adopted in Systems Engineering (SE) in which not only the engineering system under development is modeled, but also the development process itself in which many different disciplines need to be involved depending on the (lifecycle) requirements in focus. In this introductory chapter we draw the way we have paved to provide this book from the first idea on. The system concept, the origins, the goals and the expected audience of this book are roughly described. Finally, we give the first insight in the structure of this book and themutual interdependence of the chapters. This book contains many different contributions in the area of SE, categorized into 4 parts: an introduction to the concept, methods and tools, applications, and challenges.

@en

@en

Innovative products and services are key success factors for the manufacturing industry. Development of such products and services usually takes place in partnerships in which the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) distributes the development of new products to many locations in several countries across the world. Suppliers, especially first-tier suppliers (FTSs) are involved in the development process as early as possible, because they have knowledge that is strategically important for developing the new product and services. Historically, the OEM-supplier relationship is characterized by a sequential interaction whereby the OEM gives product and production requirements to the supplier and the supplier delivers his product or service to the OEM. However, collaboration between FTS and OEM is essential to fruitfully use the knowledge of the FTS, anticipate potential downstream errors, and reduce costs and risks. The paper presents recent developments in this part of the supply chain with particular attention to the design of a shared platforms, which is part of an OEM-supplier ecosystem. The development process of such an ecosystem can be seen as a transdisciplinary engineering process, because not only IT engineers are needed to build such a platform-base ecosystem but also people with knowledge of supply chain organization and coordination, especially in product development processes.

@en

Transdisciplinary processes have been the subject of research since several decades already. Transdisciplinary processes are aimed at solving ill-defined and socially relevant problems. Many researchers have studied transdisciplinary processes and have tried to understand the essentials of transdisciplinarity. Many engineering problems can be characterised as ill-defined and socially relevant, too. Although transdisciplinary engineering cannot widely be found in the literature yet, a transdisciplinary approach is deemed relevant for many engineering problems. With this paper we aim to present an overview of the literature on research into transdisciplinary processes and investigate the relevance of a transdisciplinary approach in engineering domains. After a brief description of past research on transdisciplinarity, implications for engineering research, engineering practice, and engineering education are identified. In all three areas, the current situation is described, while challenges are identified that still exist. The paper ends with a research agenda for transdisciplinary engineering.

@en

Systems Engineering (SE) is a well-established field of research and practice. Nevertheless, the theory underlying SE is experiencing significant development, directly and in associationwith advancements in closely associated research domains. In this final Chapter, a socio-technical perspective is applied to identify and describe major trends in SE, as well as identifying future challenges in theory and application of SE. In doing so, trends are identified for (1) strategic issues from a product and process lifecycle perspective; (2) stakeholder representation and involvement; (3) current and future technologies employed to enable SE; (4) knowledge and skills as contributed by people and teams; and (5) structures to enable transdisciplinary activities supporting a socio-technical system perspective in systems development. Challenges remain present regarding these dimensions; SE requires methods and tools that are suitable to support the dynamic and evolving nature of the systems that need to be developed including the development system itself. Besides, management of SE projects for solving complex societal problems requires people with vision and power to motivate and mobilize the necessary people and value their respective input in the overall task. Transdisciplinary Engineering is introduced as an approach in which Systems Thinking and System Approaches interoperate, taking into account the different levels of abstraction of the system of focus. @en

Transdisciplinary research (TDR) has been the subject of discourse in the past few decades, but has bot been studied much in the context of engineering problems. Many engineering problems can be characterized as ill-defined, like open innovation, adoption of new technology, business development, and the adoption of the Industry 4.0 concept. Transdisciplinary engineering research (TDER) is also performed in large projects by multi-disciplinary teams, as in TDR projects, including stakeholders and people from practice. Such projects may last long, often years. In such large projects, the involved disciplines should include both engineering disciplines as well as disciplines from social sciences. In this paper we address the challenges that exist in adopting a TDER approach. Universities need to prepare students to work in TDER projects. We discuss the current situation in transdisciplinary engineering education (TDEE) and identify challenges that need to be addressed for including TDEE in curricula. The paper ends with a summary and ideas for further research.@en