The Royal Academy of Engineering is delighted to announce ‘The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation’. The competition is open to engineers from all disciplines, as well as those without an engineering background but have working on an engineering-related innovation.
The aim of the Prize is to stimulate, celebrate and reward innovation and entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa. The overall winner receives £25,000 (or local currency equivalent), three runners-up also receive a cash prize of £10,000 each.
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Who May Eligible:
To be eligible, the candidates must be following all the eligibility criteria:
- Applicants must be individuals or small groups.
- Individual applicants must be citizens of a country within sub-Saharan Africa (Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe).
- For teams of two or more, the lead applicant must be a citizen of a country within sub-Saharan Africa.
- The innovation must be based in a country in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Applicants must have an engineering innovation, though are not required to be an engineering graduate or student.
- Applicants must provide a letter of support from a university or research institution, this can be as simple as stating an individual studied at that institution. If applicants are not affiliated with a university, another document proving the status of your organization or innovation, such as a document of incorporation or similar, can be used.
- Industrial researchers and establishments are not eligible.
- The lead applicant must be over the age of 18. There is no upper age limit.
- 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.
- Applicants should have achieved the development of, and be in the early stages of commercializing, an engineering innovation that:
- Will bring social and/or environmental benefits to a country/countries in sub-Saharan Africa
- Has strong potential to be replicated and scaled up
- Is accompanied by an ambitious but realistic business plan which has strong commercial viability
How to Apply & Competitions Rules:
To participate, the applicants must submit an application online form through the given link: https://grants.raeng.org.uk.
Rules:
- You must register through the system before you can apply.
- The application form has six sections and will take approximately 1.5 hours to complete.
- A CV and letter of support are required.
- Submission of a video and any photos or diagrams to illustrate your innovation are strongly encouraged.
Benefits:
Total £55,000 will award to the winning candidates as the following:
- The overall winner receives £25,000 (or local currency equivalent).
- Three runners-up also receive a cash prize of £10,000 each (total £30,000).
- The remaining shortlisted applicants will also be invited to display their innovations at an exhibition at this event.
Application Deadline:
The deadline for submissions is 4 pm GMT on Monday 23 July 2018.
