Articles
Nominations are open for the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, the £1 million award intended to celebrate engineering achievements that benefit humanity and to inspire the next generation of engineers.
Nominations opened as the 10 engineering-related sector skills councils estimated that the industry will need more than two million recruits at all levels over the next decade. Manufacturing currently employs 5.6 million people in the UK and makes up 20% of the country’s economy – down from 34% in 1990.
Lord Browne of Madingley, chairman of the award’s foundation, said: “It is absolutely critical that we as a nation make it our mission to inspire and excite the next generation of engineers. We need a healthy pipeline of talented, skilled and enthusiastic people to continue our proud tradition as an engineering nation.”
He added: “We must also give our students and young people a greater incentive to choose engineering as a career than is currently on offer. Our future economic prosperity depends on it and I am confident that this prize will help to achieve that objective.”
The judging panel for the award includes Professor Brian Cox, from the University of Manchester, Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys, India, Professor John Hennessy, president of Stanford University, US, and Diane Greene, director of Intuit and Google. The prize foundation was established with support from BAE Systems, Jaguar Land Rover, National Grid, Siemens, Tata Steel and others.
Prime Minister David Cameron is backing the award. He said: “The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering will mark a new pinnacle of achievement and excellence in its field and will encourage boundaries to be pushed and open minds to new possibilities.”
The Queen also offered a message of support: “I hope that it inspires many more people across the globe to develop life-changing engineering creations in the years to come.”
- Entries will close on 14 September. For more information and to make a nomination please go to: qeprize.org/