Portugal has become one of the most desirable places for engineers to work and study in the EU - a remarkable achievement, by all accounts. As recently as 2007, it was written off as the ‘sick man of Europe’; its economy was sluggish and living standards were stagnating. Fast-forward a decade and how things have changed. As 2018 drew to a close, the ruling Socialist Party pledged to deliver the country’s lowest deficit of just 0.2% and the tourism sector was back booming.

A quick glance around the picturesque university campuses and the reasons to study at the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria become startlingly obvious - there are that many. From the facilities and exemplary standard of teaching, to the climate, landscape and opportunity to surf, the list really is exhaustive.

Friends, engineers, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to make a request of you - don’t worry, its a short and relatively painless one. Here at NewEngineer, we are conducting research into the career paths of our beloved engineers.

“If you were given all the resources and materials that you would need, which invention would you create that would revolutionize the world?” An interesting question no? Certainly, it is one that gets the mind of an engineer really whirring. For this reason, we made the query the basis of the first edition of NewEngineer’s grant contest, a competition that sought to find the most creative, ambitious, but importantly also plausible, response. The prize for our victor? A cool €500 grant to cover the costs of attending an engineering event or course, anywhere - generous we know!

Although its branding as ‘The World's First Major Renewable Energy Economy’ may be slightly generous, Germany is, without question, one of Europe’s leading forces in the ‘renewable revolution’. Throughout its time in office, the CDU has maintained an ambitious green agenda, and Merkel's long-standing international engagement in cutting emissions has earned her the nickname the ‘Climate Chancellor’.