Work to expand the refinery was sub-contracted by Total's main contractor - engineering firm Jacobs - to an Italian company, IREM, which decided to use its own foreign workforce.

BBC: Foreign labour row 'deal reached'

In response it made a succession of foreign deals, mainly in Europe, in its area of electronics and engineering, with the main aim of gaining know-how and better products.

ECONOMIST: Inbound and outbound deals

The planned Defence Technical Training College will comprise three main training schools, electronic and mechanical engineering, aeronautical engineering, and communications and information systems.

BBC: RAF Lyneham: Bids invited for ?230m defence college

The main challenge is overcoming viscousity, which means that completely different engineering principles are involved.

CNN: Nanobots get to the heart of the matter

Light engineering, service industries, textiles and woollens are the main generators of economic wealth with farming dominant in the south.

BBC: NEWS | VOTE 2003

The main challenge is the lack of alignment between infrastructure strategies and the need to expand engineering training.

FORBES: Africa's Leadership Fails Billionaire Mo Ibrahim's Test, But Technocrats Rise

One main reason is that CEOs disconnect from their organizations, and focus more on financial engineering than on innovation.

FORBES: CEOs: Getting Back To The Front Line

Mike Lynch's main concern, however, was about the teaching of STEM subjects - science, technology, engineering and maths - in secondary schools where he felt we were falling behind.

BBC: Why can't the UK produce world-beating tech companies?