Support to scale up
Advance equips entrepreneurs working with a customer-validated product with the knowledge, network and skills to rapidly scale, and internationally expand.
The fully-funded, seven-month programme offers bespoke relationship-building and business-growth modules, culminating with an 11-day residential in the UK. Thanks to our charitable status, we take no equity, fees or IP.
Advance 2026 is a collaboration between the Royal Academy of Engineering and Global Disability Innovation Hub, part of the AT2030 programme, which is funded by UK International Development.
Who is the Advance programme for?
Advance is for founders working with a customer-validated solution, who have already established a business around their innovation. We welcome applications from all eligible parties, including women entrepreneurs, and those without a background in engineering.
Advance is a themed programme. This means that each year, we identify a different area of innovation to support, and work with world-changing entrepreneurs from within this sector. Entrepreneurs must be working on an innovation within the programme's theme in order to be considered. The theme for Advance 2026 is 'Accessibility, Assistive and Inclusive Technologies'.
We actively welcome applications from all eligible applicants, including women entrepreneurs, and those without a background in engineering.
Benefits of the fully-funded, seven-month programme
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Training and mentoring from world-leading experts
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In-person training, as part of a UK residential phase
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Eligibility for the UK’s Global Talent Visa, through endorsement from the Academy
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Access to LIF Community, our 1,500+ alumni network, upon graduation
As with our UK-focused entrepreneurship programmes, we take no fee, equity or IP from the entrepreneurs that we work with.
Advance 2025 awardees
Hear from an Advance Innovator
Video transcript
[Text on screen: Royal Academy of Engineering, Leaders in Innovation Fellowships]
[Music]
I am Jennifer Rodriguez from Colombia. I am the CEO and Founder of Vbraille. At Vbraille we provide education for teachers and parents in inclusive education topics and also we deliver technology for the communication of blind students.
[Music][Text on screen: Why did you take part in LIF Advance?]
Because the LIF Advance program is a great support to expand our product and our services in another countries and to receive receive support of mentors and expertise in our business.
[Text on screen: What support have you received from LIF Advance?] We achieve a great connection with a university here in UK there is a great and a big support for us to improve our services and our products.
[Text on screen: Why should you join LIF Advance?] This program is a great opportunity to create great connections in order to improve and expand our businesses and our companies.
[Text on screen: What does the future hold?] The future of Vbraille is to become the best e-learning inclusive education, to improve the education and to deliver quality education for students with disabilities.
[Royal Academy logo]
With delivery partner: SETsquared, Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Southhampton and Surrey. raeng.org.uk/lif @RAEngGlobal
Advance structure
In January 2026, our cohort of world-changing entrepreneurs will join the programme, and begin their seven months of training, mentoring and networking. The programme will begin with introductory sessions to provide the cohort with a chance to network. Awardees will then explore and assess the stage of their business, as well as their personal business acumen.
Awardees will be assigned to one of two groups, where they will:
- Complete a pre-programme diagnosis
- Identify the biggest challenges that they are facing
- Validate that the business model is pertinent, and fit for a global scale
Training will take place from February to June 2026. There will be both online and in-person sessions, structured into three modules designed to leverage each awardee's skills, and help to map the connections that they want to create in the UK. Alongside this, participants will receive mentoring and 1-2-1's sessions from experts, tailored to their specific business needs.
Modules
The programme offers the following modules.
- Business model deep-dive
- Deep stakeholder mapping and strategic partnerships
- Storytelling, conflict resolution, and soft-skill enhancement
Experts 1-2-1
Expert-led online and in-person sessions for awardees on:
- Building high-impact teams
- Solving challenges
- 'Why' and 'when' investment
- IP protection
Masterclasses, mentoring and advisory board input
Awardees will harness diverse modules, bespoke masterclasses, mentoring sessions, and the opportunity to create their own advisory board, discussing:
- The importance of 'why' and 'when' investment
- How to create a marketing strategy, understand your customers, and communicate with them more effectively
- Build a solid pipeline for sales
- Improve engineering processes
- Solve day-to-day challenges
UK residential in July 2026
Awardees will have the opportunity to:
- Travel to the UK for an in-person residential
- Participate in training and network-building events
- Pitch to an audience of investors and ecosystem leaders
Post-programme support
Post-programme support includes:
- Access to LIF Community
- Life-long mentoring, training, and networking opportunities via the LIF Innovators platform
Supporting purpose-driven innovation
Since 2014, the Leaders in Innovation Fellowships programme has supported disruptive entrepreneurs from across the globe. All our programmes are offered free of charge, and we take no equity or IP from those we support.
In collaboration with
