The Department for International Development’s (DFID’s) Engineering Knowledge and Research (EngKaR) programme aims to provide technical, managerial and policy solutions in the infrastructure and urban development sectors that help enable poor people to escape from poverty on a sustainable basis. It intends to solve specific problems, build capacity and communicate the solutions to others, so that the knowledge won becomes a public good and is re-used by others to generate wider development benefits. It has run in various forms since the 1980s. Over the past 15 years, it has invested over £100m across up to seven sectors in some 600 projects, mostly undertaken in collaboration between UK research institutions and partners in developing countries.