Vision Statement
Rob Vingerhoeds ESEP is a full Professor of Systems Engineering at ISAE-SUPAERO and Dean of the Systems Doctoral School of the University of Toulouse, France. An aerospace engineering graduate from Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands), Rob holds a PhD in Applied Sciences from the University of Ghent (Belgium) and a “Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches” from the National Polytechnic Institute in Toulouse (France).
Rob has a significant industrial experience of close to 20 years in a multinational automotive supplier in France and Germany. His industrial experience started as development engineer, and then, passing via head of generic and advanced development, he finished as vice-president responsible for all engineering development tools world-wide. Before going to industry and afterwards, Rob worked in academia, and based on this experience, he brings a unique blend of academic and practical expertise to his teaching and research in systems engineering, architecture, model-based systems engineering, concept design, and AI applications.
Rob has had the pleasure of achieving several leadership roles, both within the framework of his career in industry (directions up to 350 persons) and in academia, as well as within associative activities. Within this framework, one can mention for INCOSE his role as Assistant-Director Academic Matters EMEA (2018-2023) and Assistant-Director Events EMEA (2018-2021). Rob brought ISAE-SUPAERO into the Corporate Advisory Board in 2017 and since then represents his organization at the CAB and in the Academic Council. He is also the Program Chair for INCOSE EMEASEC 2026, that will be held in Linköping later this year. Outside INCOSE, he has been Co-Chair of the Technical Program Committee of the IEEE ISSE Conferences from 2020 until 2025, and, before, he was very active in the International Federation for Automatic Control (IFAC). Rob served for 10 years as Editor-in-Chief of the international scientific Journal “Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence” (IFAC) and is currently Deputy Editor of our INCOSE/Wiley Journal “Systems Engineering”.
Speaking fluently Dutch, English, French and German, and mastering Spanish at a reasonable level, Rob is a passionate advocate for INCOSE’s mission and is committed to driving innovation and inclusivity in the global systems engineering community.
INCOSE: Leading the Evolution of Systems Engineering
Discussing with a close colleague and dear friend at the IW last January, I said to him that for me INCOSE is family. It is a strong statement, but it is the way I feel it: INCOSE is family! We do not always agree, we are not always talking with each other at the right moments, sometimes we only talk when we meet at specific occasions, but in the end we all go for a common future, a common vision, a wish for a better world. For me, a Director-at-Large for INCOSE needs to put her/his effort in helping the organization function to the best of its abilities, so that we can provide world-class support to the Technical Committees and Working Groups, the heartbeat of INCOSE.
For me, INCOSE is the global cornerstone of our profession, uniting diverse expertise to advance systems engineering across industries and cultures. For over 35 years now, INCOSE’s visionary leadership and vibrant membership have driven transformative achievements: the Systems Engineering Handbook (now in its 5th edition and translated into several languages), yearly world-class International Symposiums and International Workshops that I always have the pleasure to attend, and influential publications such as the our Journal “Systems Engineering”, where I’ve had the pleasure to serve as Deputy Editor since 2019, and “INSIGHT”. And of course, I also would like to mention standard ISO15288, the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK, now v2.14), and the GRCSE (Graduate Reference Curriculum in Systems Engineering), all of which INCOSE played a significant role in developing. None of this would have been possible without the strong implication of our members, through our Working Groups, both within INCOSE and within the Chapters. These joint achievements have cemented INCOSE’s role as the authoritative voice in systems engineering.
I believe that we are at a pivotal moment. Rapid societal and technological shifts demand that systems engineering evolves to meet new challenges. INCOSE’s mission in taking a leading role in this transformation is clear and comprises an evolution both as an organization and of our profession.
INCOSE is step-by-step evolving from a volunteer-driven group to a professional society, aligning with leading international organizations such as IEEE and IFAC. We can already see the positive impact of the role of our full-time executive director and his professional staff, and we can notice that these changes empower our global community, streamline operations, and amplify our influence, freeing volunteers to innovate and collaborate.
Our INCOSE Vision 2035 and the Future of Systems Engineering (FuSE) initiative provide a roadmap for addressing emerging challenges. As a passionate advocate for both practice and theory, I believe FuSE must translate visionary ideas into reality, re-enforcing systems engineering’s foundations, and then into practical applications. In the same way, we must work from proven industry approaches to foundational principles. I believe that we can only achieve this by having world-class contributions from both industry and academia; we need to ensure that INCOSE remains a meeting place for all, where we inspire and challenge, in order to bring our profession forward.
The strength of the family lies in its members – INCOSE’s strength lies in its members. We need to look after our family, by ensuring that what we propose to them makes sense. In this respect, INCOSE should deliver accessible to its members at reasonable cost high-value education, certification, publications, conferences, and networking opportunities. It underlines INCOSE’s commitment to education and the development of future systems engineers.
Building on both my academic and industrial experience, I am dedicated to advancing our field. This double experience enables me to bridge theory and practice. Looking at today’s technical and societal challenges, I believe specific attention should be given to systems of systems, to complexity and the ways to master it, to artificial intelligence for systems engineering, to bringing humans back in the center of development, and on solid scientific foundations for Systems Engineering (I really like the FuSE initiative). Our INCOSE family is at a pivotal moment, with growing needs, capabilities, and capacity. Together, let’s build a stronger society, profession, and global community, let’s make this family go for excellence.