The INCOSE Systems Engineering Vision 2035 outlines how systems engineering (SE) must evolve to address future global and technological challenges. It envisions increasingly interconnected, AI-enabled systems of systems (SoS) and a future driven by model-based systems engineering (MBSE) and digital transformation. SE will integrate data science and artificial intelligence (AI) to manage large volumes of data and better predict complex behaviors. Future systems must be sustainable, affordable, ethical, and secure, considering environmental, societal, and digital resilience factors [1].
Definition of Systems Engineering (SE)
What is Engineering?
Engineering is the application of scientific principles, mathematics, and technology to design, build, and maintain systems, structures, machines, and processes that solve real-world problems.
What is Systems Engineering?
A system is a collection of elements that, when working together, produce an effect that the individual elements operating on their own cannot produce. Early engineering achievements such as the Roman aqueducts, the Egyptian pyramids, and ancient city planning reflected a fundamental need to integrate diverse skills and resources into a unified effort. The immense scale and complexity of these projects demanded organized coordination, even though the practice was not yet known as “systems engineering.”
Systems engineering (SE) is an interdisciplinary approach to designing, building, and managing complex systems. It ensures that all components people, processes, hardware, and software work together seamlessly to meet stakeholder needs. SE focuses on the big picture by holistically understanding requirements, exploring opportunities, and developing, verifying, and evolving solutions throughout the system’s lifecycle, from concept to disposal [3].
Simple Example: Building airplane systems engineering ensures all parts of the airplane (engine, wings, navigation, and cockpit) work together as one safe, efficient system. The SE process defines overall requirements (like carrying 200 passengers for 5,000 km), coordinates between teams, ensures designs fit together, and verifies the complete system performs as intended.
A Brief History of Systems Engineering
Even though SE was used for complex structures throughout history, the term ‘systems engineering’ originated in the 1940s at Bell Telephone Laboratories, driven by the need to manage the complexity of large-scale engineering projects, particularly in the U.S. military.
In the pre-2000s, systems engineering relied heavily on textual documents, spreadsheets, and diagrams to capture requirements, designs, and analyses.
What is INCOSE?
NCOSE (National Council on Systems Engineering) was established to advance the science and practice of systems engineering. The concept originated at the University of California, San Diego in 1989, and the organization was formally founded in 1990 during a Boeing-hosted meeting at the Battelle Conference Center in Seattle, Washington.
In 1995, NCOSE became INCOSE the International Council on Systems Engineering — to reflect its global scope. Headquartered in San Diego, California, INCOSE has 26,000+ members in over 65 chapters worldwide.
Systems Engineering Lifecycle
In the pre-1990s, Systems Engineering followed a sequential (waterfall-like) lifecycle. Each phase in the lifecycle has its own objectives, deliverables, and review gates, and is typically executed in a phase-gated manner. This means that before moving to the next phase, the current one must be completed and formally reviewed.
As systems grew more complex, industries identified the downsides of sequential (waterfall-like) lifecycles [3], especially:
- Verification and validation occur only after implementation.
- It does not accommodate evolving stakeholder needs.
- Stakeholders see results only in later stages.
- System behavior is unclear until integration and testing.
- Long timelines may lead to outdated technology or missed market windows. These challenges drove users to adopt the V-Model.
The V-Model for Systems Engineering Lifecycle
The V-Model originated in the 1980s and was created as an improvement over the sequential waterfall model, addressing its limitations by explicitly incorporating verification and validation activities alongside development [4].
The steps in the V-Model are generally self-explanatory, but two terms often cause confusion:
- Verification – “Are we building the system, right?” according to the specified requirements and design.
- Validation – “Are we building the right system?” that the final product meets the user’s needs and intended use.
Reasons for Systems Engineering Transformation
Systems Engineering faced challenges due to fast-paced technological change and the growth of software in all aspects of engineering [6]. Major reasons for transformation include:
- Modern systems like self-driving cars, smart devices, and aircraft blend mechanics, electronics, software, and data making them too complex for old, document-heavy methods.
- Technology moves fast, and companies must design and deliver new products quicker than ever.
- Global teams often struggle with version issues, poor communication, and slow decisions due to scattered information.
- Valuable knowledge gets lost between projects, so capturing and reusing what works is key to saving time, money, and effort.
- Strict regulations require full traceability, which is something traditional systems engineering cannot handle well.
The Birth of MBSE
The term Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) first appeared in Albert Wayne Wymore’s book Model-Based Systems Engineering in 1993. Wymore, a pioneer in systems engineering and one of INCOSE’s first Fellows, emphasized the need for models to represent requirements, behavior, structure, and constraints across disciplines [7].
The Language Behind MBSE: How SysML Was Born
The concept originated from the INCOSE MBSE Initiative and the growing need for standardized modeling language. In the late 1990s, engineers used UML (Unified Modeling Language), developed by the Object Management Group (OMG), for software engineering. To address broader SE needs, INCOSE and OMG formed the SysML Partners Consortium in 2003. By 2006, SysML (Systems Modeling Language) was officially standardized by OMG as an extension of UML, tailored for systems engineering.
What is SysML?
SysML (Systems Modeling Language) is a standardized, general-purpose modeling language created for Systems Engineering. It supports the specification, design, analysis, and verification of complex systems involving hardware, software, people, data, and processes. Developed to enable Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), SysML provides a visual and standardized way to represent system behavior, structure, and requirements across multiple domains. It is a subset of UML, extended to include requirements and system-level concepts, making it both human readable and machine-interpretable [8].
The Four Pillars of SysML
SysML is built on four main pillars Structure, Behavior, Requirements, and Parametric. These pillars help engineers clearly see how a system is built, how it works, why it exists, and how well it performs from the first idea to the final product.
It is important to understand that SysML is not merely a diagramming tool. SysML models are stored in a structured database, enabling analysis for consistency, completeness, and traceability. These models can generate automated reports, and through APIs or standard exchange formats, they can be integrated or shared with other engineering platforms, ensuring seamless collaboration throughout the system lifecycle.
MBSE Adoption
With Systems Engineering and SysML established to support MBSE, INCOSE clarified the vision by publishing the INCOSE SE Vision 2020 in 2007. According to that publication: “MBSE is a formalized application of modeling to support system requirements, design, analysis, verification and validation activities beginning in the conceptual design phase and continuing throughout development and later lifecycle phases.”
What is MBSE and Why It Matters?
A model is a formal, digital representation of a system that serves as the single source of truth.
Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) transforms traditional Systems Engineering into a more precise, digital, and connected practice. Instead of relying on thousands of disconnected documents, MBSE uses integrated models as a single source of truth helping engineers design, test, and refine systems virtually before building them in the real world [9].
MBSE is not a new discipline; it is the evolution of systems engineering using formal modeling languages like SysML and concepts such as digital twins. This approach makes complex systems like cars, aircraft, satellites, and even smart cities easier to manage by improving collaboration and reducing errors. Just as electrical and mechanical engineering moved to computer-aided design decades ago, Systems Engineering is now undergoing its own transformation. Today, MBSE is central to managing complexity and enabling smarter, faster innovation.
MBSE Implementation Benefits
- Visualization of system architecture and interactions.
- Traceability across requirements, design, and verification.
- Simulation and validation before physical build.
- Collaboration across multidisciplinary teams.
Challenges of MBSE
MBSE requires a cultural shift from document-centric to model-centric thinking. Implementing MBSE effectively requires mature software tools like PLM (product lifecycle management) which can handle systems from initial requirements through design, validation all the way to retirement.
Conclusion
The future of systems engineering will be driven by digital transformation, model-based approaches, and insights powered by data and AI. As systems evolve into interconnected, intelligent networks, engineers must embrace MBSE and data-centric approaches to manage complexity and predict behaviors. Sustainability, ethics, security, and resilience will no longer be optional — they will define success. Organizations that adapt now will lead to creating systems that are not only technologically advanced but also responsible and future ready.
References
- International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), “Systems Engineering Vision 2035”. San Diego, CA, USA: INCOSE, 2022.
- Bruijn, Hans & Herder, Paulien. (2009). “System and Actor Perspectives on Sociotechnical Systems. Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part A: Systems and Humans”, vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 981–992, Sep. 2009.
- INCOSE, in Systems Engineering Handbook — A Guide for System Life Cycle Processes and Activities, C. Haskins, K. Forsberg, and M. Krueger, Eds. San Diego, CA: Int. Council Syst. Eng., 2007.
- J. O. Clark, “System of Systems Engineering and Family of Systems Engineering from a standard, V Model, and Dual-V Model perspective,” 2009 3rd Annual IEEE Systems Conference, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2009, pp. 381–387.
- “Adoption of ISO/IEC 15288:2002, Systems Engineering — System Life Cycle Processes,” in IEEE Std 15288-2004, pp. 1–67, 8 June 2005.
- P. R. Bari, “AI Meets the V-Model: Why It Is Not A Luxury, But A Necessity,” pp. 1–12, 24 Sept. 2025.
- A. Wymore, Model-Based Systems Engineering. Boca Raton, FL: CRC, 1993.
- S. Friedenthal, A. Moore, and R. Steiner, A Practical Guide to SysML, The Systems Modeling Language. Burlington: Morgan Kaufmann/OMG, Elsevier, 2008.
- Systems Engineering Overview, SEBoK Wiki. https://sebokwiki.org/wiki/Systems_Engineering_Overview