A dialysis machine that can treat kidney patients in the home, precision agriculture through vertical farming and transformative electron scanning microscopy are vying to be named the UK’s leading engineering innovation of 2022.
The Royal Academy of Engineering has today announced the shortlist for the 2022 MacRobert Award, the UK’s longest running and most prestigious award for UK engineering innovation. The three finalists represent strikingly different aspects of engineering and are recognised for technical innovation and the commercial and societal impact they’ve demonstrated.
Selected by a judging panel of esteemed engineering experts, the 2022 MacRobert Award finalists are:
The winning team will be announced at the Royal Academy of Engineering Awards Dinner on 12 July at Leicester Square’s stunning new sustainably designed and engineered hotel, The Londoner, and will receive a £50,000 prize.
For more than half a century MacRobert Award winners have been recognised for delivering outstanding engineering innovation, commercial success and tangible social benefit. The first award in 1969 was won jointly by Rolls-Royce for the Pegasus engine used in the iconic Harrier jump jet, and Freeman, Fox and Partners for designing the Severn Bridge. More recently, 2008 winner Touch Bionics i-Limb Hand has helped to transform medical prosthetics while people across all seven continents still rely on winning innovations from the likes of Jaguar Land Rover, Raspberry Pi and Inmarsat.
Professor Sir Richard Friend FREng FRS, Chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award judging panel, said: “Engineering has a key role to play in combating the greatest challenges of our time – from climate change to driving a sustainable healthcare system through the COVID-19 pandemic and into the future. The breadth of the 2022 MacRobert Award finalists shows exactly that, from innovative healthcare technology that has reduced the strain on the NHS, to vertical farming with zero water waste and a step-change in electron microscopy that is revolutionising research and innovation across a variety of sectors.
“The global impact these vibrant and creative innovations have already had on their respective sectors and society at large is cementing UK engineering’s leading role on the world stage. It goes to show quite how far-reaching UK engineering now is, something that will only continue given the world-beating talent located right here in the UK.”
First presented in 1969, the MacRobert Award is widely regarded as the most coveted in the industry, honouring the winning organisation with a gold medal and the team members with a cash prize of £50,000. Founded by the MacRobert Trust, the award is presented and run by the Royal Academy of Engineering, with support from the Worshipful Company of Engineers.
The 2022 judging panel is made up of:
The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone. In collaboration with its Fellows and partners, it’s growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.
The MacRobert Award press team can be contacted directly on:
MacRobertAward@antidotecommunications.com