Deadline: June 29, 2015
The Royal Academy of Engineering invites application from ambitious and talented sub Saharan engineers for its Engineering Innovation Prize. This prize aims to stimulate, celebrate and reward innovation and entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa.
Engineers from all disciplines are challenged to apply their skills to develop scalable solutions to local challenges,highlighting the importance of engineering as an enabler of improved quality of life and economic development. Crucial commercialisation support will be awarded to a shortlist of innovative applicants through a six month period of training and mentoring. Following this period of mentorship, finalists will be invited to present at an event held in Africa and a winner will be selected to receive £25,000 along with three runners-up who will be awarded £10,000 each.
Prizes
- Winner receives: £25,000
- 3 Runners-up receive: £10,000 each
- Mentoring and training opportunities
Eligibility
- Applicants must have developed (or co-developed), or be in the process of developing (or co-developing) a new technological innovation. See full list of eligible countries.
- Applicants should have the ambition to take a leading role in creating a new business to commercialize this innovation.
- Industrial researchers and establishments are not eligible
- Applicants should have achieved the development of, and be in the early stages of commercialising an engineering innovation that:
(i) will bring social and/or environmental benefits to country/countries in sub-Saharan Africa;
(ii) has strong potential to be replicated and scaled up;
(iii) is accompanied by an ambitious but realistic business plan which has strong commercial viability
Selection Criteria
- Applicants must be individuals or groups of no more than three people.
- Individual applicants must be citizens of a country within sub-Saharan Africa and currently reside there. For teams of two or three, the lead applicant must be a citizen of a country within sub-Saharan Africa and currently reside there.
- Applicants must be engineers who can provide a letter of support from a university of research institution.
- The applicant’s innovation can be any new product, technology or service, based on research in engineering defined in its broadest sense to encompass a wide range of fields, including: agricultural technology, biotechnology, chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer science, design engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, ICT, materials science, mechanical engineering, and medical engineering. If you are in any doubt that your area of expertise would be considered engineering then please contact the Academy to discuss your application.
How to Enter
1. Register and apply via the online Grants Sytem. Register here.
2. The application form consists of 6 sections:
- Application details
- Your Innovation
- Your Business Plan
- About You 5
- Supporting Information and Declaration
- Marketing
See full details on each section here.
3. Following the closing date, a shortlist of applicants will be identified to receive a six month period of mentoring and training. The mentoring and training will be structured to give participants the skills and knowledge to:
- develop their technology further, with a view towards successful commercialisation;
- strengthen and develop their existing business plans and prepare them for pitching;
- forge links with potential partners, investors and customers.
The training will take a number of forms but will require that during the six months you are able to commit time to these activities.
- The training period will run from Thursday 1 October 2015 to Thursday 31 March 2016. During this time, two week-long immersion sessions will be arranged, training and mentoring outside of these times will take place remotely.
- Shortlisted applicants will be expected to submit a full business plan, from a provided template, for the consideration of the Judging Panel by Thursday 31 March 2016. The Judging Panel will then identify three finalists, who will be i
For more information visit the Royal Academy of Engineering or e-mail [email protected].
