This project provides a conceptual structure for the analysis of the history of engineering in Portugal, based on a systemic view of the processes of technological change. The importance of these aspects is reinforced by Portugal’s relatively small size as a country, which prohibits any analysis where the external environment is not properly understood. In fact, at the beginning of the 21st century the main problem in terms of the role of engineering in economic development processes is related to the way engineering stimulates innovation based on the sharing and dissemination of knowledge.

Moreover, the way science and technology have changed societies and human behaviour is particularly associated with engineering achievements such as great creations showing the true sense of engineering activity, in particular after the Industrial Revolution. The engineer’s talent, founded on experimentation and scientific calculation, has been characterised by a growing audacity and entrepreneurial determination, in a way that emphasizes “technological beauty” criteria. Consequently, several international exhibitions have been held, including: “Twentieth Century Engineering” held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1964); “Architecture d’Ingénieurs, XIX et XX siècles”, at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, in 1978; “Great Engineers”, at the Royal College of Art of London in 1987 and, more recently, “L’art de l’ingénieur”, at the Centre Georges Pompidou from May to September 1997.

Therefore, the purpose of this project is also to show significant aspects of the “art of the engineer” which have had an impact on Portuguese society during the 20th century, in a way that fosters a better understanding of the situations in which technological innovation has been promoteded and has taken place endogenously within Portuguese society.