Although engineering analysis is only a support activity in the larger field of engineering design, the analysis process helps to identify good new designs and can be used to improve a design with respect to performance and cost.

In our case, the analysis work has also involved the expansion of the activity into the adjoining field of computer programming. This backbone provides us with unlimited freedom to take the control of the design process and a much deeper insight into the structural problem.

We initiated and keep working on an evolving Open Source project, called XC. It is a finite element program aimed directly at civil structural engineering, developed on the basis of powerful open software applications like OpenSees, Phyton and VTK.

This work is guided by our self-imposed mandate for openness and knowledge-sharing. Thanks to the share-alike attribute of a copyleft license, we frequently benefit from the mindshare of the authors that contribute to XC and the programs on which it is based. Because of our high degree of specialization, this open way of working also offers us a conduit to find like-minded professionals with which team up on projects.

We like to embrace our responsibility towards social sustainability. Solving human problems and contributing to society are our main goals. In this regard, again, the use of technology to identify the processes at which computers do best, such as repetitive tasks and optimum searches, free us to devote more efforts to those creative processes.

Finally, one of our current purposes is to enhance our community engagement. Recently, we have made our modest contribution to the translation of the NGO Bridges to Prosperity's Manuals into Spanish. It has been a rewarding experience, since learning about the way of approaching engineering problems in the developing world brings another perspective to our work and, we hope, will contribute to improving our own designs.