*Engineers from across Tanzania in all disciplines urged to submit entries*
*Friday 14th March 2014*
Engineers from Tanzania and other sub-Saharan countries are invited to
enter a major new prize which rewards innovation and entrepreneurship in
engineering.
The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) has announced the launch of the
first *Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation* and is calling for entries
from engineers connected with universities and research institutions
in sub-Saharan
African countries.
The *Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation* is Africa’s biggest prize
devoted to engineering innovation, covering all disciplines from
mechanical, civil and computing to biomedical, oil and gas, mining and
electronic engineering.
“Engineering is crucial to social and economic development in Tanzania and
internationally,” said Malcolm Brinded, a Fellow of the RAEng and Chair of
the judging panel for the prize. “The *Africa Prize for Engineering
Innovation* aims to recognise the importance of African engineers and to
stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship, while encouraging young people
to become engineers by creating successful role models.”
“This new competition is designed to incentivise engineers to use their
passion to develop innovative solutions to their country’s challenges. The
Africa Prize will demonstrate how engineering is at the heart of economic
development.”
Engineers from all disciplines are invited to submit innovations with a
social, economic or environmental benefit. Entries must be early-stage
innovations which have the potential to be scaled-up and are ready for
commercialisation.
The deadline for entries is Friday 30 May 2014.
A shortlist of entrants will benefit from six months of extensive
mentoring, training and support in commercialising their innovation. The
overall winner will receive £25,000 and there will be an exhibition of all
finalists’ entries.
The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation is supported by the Shell
Centenary Scholarship Fund, Consolidated Contractors Company, ConocoPhilips
and the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.
“By encouraging talented engineers to apply their technical and
entrepreneurial skills to development challenges in Tanzania and the wider
continent, we can help build stronger engineering capability, better
equipped to develop scalable solutions to all kinds of local and regional
challenges,” said Brinded.
“Over the year-long competition, we look forward to seeing great
engineering ideas become viable projects that grow economies and improve
societies.”
The RAEng is the UK’s national academy for engineering. It brings together
successful engineers to advance and promote excellence in engineering.
Encouraging and facilitating engineering innovation is a major focus of the
Academy’s work, both domestically in the UK and in sub-Saharan Africa. A
key component of its focus is on public understanding of engineering and
increasing awareness of how engineering impacts lives.
Find out more at www.raeng.org.uk/AfricaPrize or africaprize@raeng.org.uk