SHJ,
in the financial world most of the trading desks have a failsafe plan in place, such as distanced location from main place of business, parallel telecoms and computer systems ready at a moments notice to kick-in and keep the trading positions open
Very good point that all disciplines should look at others for possible solutions to their own problems, e.g:
Argentinian mechanic invents baby extractor:
BBC News - Odon childbirth device: Car mechanic uncorks a revolution
and, for balance, engineers may discover that natural selection solved an engineering problem 100k years ago.