Engineering news
The Royal Academy of Engineering has chosen four 16-25-year-olds as Britain's greatest young technology entrepreneurs.
The entrepreneurs include Amanda Campbell, 23, George Edwards, 19, James Roberts, 23 and Sorin Popa, 25.
The four finalists' innovations include a biodegradable tent, an inflatable incubator for premature babies, a magnetic gas monitor, and a medical device that could revolutionise kidney dialysis, and have all been invited to join the Academy’s Enterprise Hub after competing in the nationwide Launchpad Competition aimed at 16-25-year-old engineering entrepreneurs.
The inventors will now get access to world-class resources, angel investors and business networks of over 100 mentors through the Royal Academy of Engineering ‘Enterprise Hub’, including Sir Robin Saxby, former Chief Executive and Chairman of ARM.
They will receive mentoring from major business figures including leading angel investor David Gammon to transform their ideas into leading technology businesses and help drive industrial growth across Britain.
The four young entrepreneurs were chosen as finalists by a panel of technology and business leaders including Elspeth Finch, Innovation Director for the multinational engineering, architecture and design giant Atkins, and Ian Shott, a serial entrepreneur who has also held senior positions at several multi-national biotech giants including AstraZeneca.
The overall Launchpad Competition winner will be selected at an event on 29 September where the finalists will each pitch their businesses to an invited audience including investors, Fellows of the Academy and other engineering entrepreneurs. In addition to membership of the Enterprise Hub, the winner will receive the JC Gammon Award – a trophy and £15,000.
David Gammon, chief executive of Rockspring and the primary benefactor of the JC Gammon Award, said: “Young people today are realising that choosing to be self-employed or an entrepreneur can be a great move. Through the Launchpad Competition we support 16-25 year-olds - entrepreneurs of this age often struggle to get started, even though they can be the ones with the best ideas. More often than not, they are not fortunate enough to have a network to support them as this is something that comes from many years of employment, as well as experience, which by definition young people have not had the time to develop. This is where the Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub can provide unrivalled support.”
Ian Shott CBE FREng, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said: “This year’s finalists are testament to the fantastic ideas that the younger generation is capable of generating. Our panel has seen ground-breaking ideas from 16-25-year-olds with the potential to save lives, transform the leisure and tourism industry, aid the developing world and lower our carbon footprint. We believe that these innovations have mass-market potential and we aim to utilise the Academy’s world-class mentors and business networks to help bring them to market and make them future UK success stories.”