Graduate innovators given helping hand
13 Jul 2016
The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) has awarded four enterprise fellowships to graduate entrepreneurs behind disruptive early-stage technology innovations.
According to the RAEng, each of these technologies has the potential to make big waves in the industrial sector, and the new fellowships have been launched to speed their route to market.
It said the 1851 Royal Commission Enterprise Fellowships were established “to help develop the skills and innovations of high-potential engineering entrepreneurs based in the UK who do not have the experience or support from employment with a university or well-established company to get their product to market”.
Recipients of the fellowship award include the inventors of a bioengineered water filter designed to catch pollutants that can slip through the net of standard water treatment, and a 3D sensing material designed to replace electronic controls.
These graduates were chosen because they have ideas with incredibly disruptive potential but they are very early-stage and need support to get them to market ahead of the global competition
Ana Avaliani, Royal Academy of Engineering’s head of enterprise
The creator of a pioneering wristband to help users keep calm or stay alert also received a fellowship, alongside the creator of a smart camera designed to improve transport planning.
“These graduates were chosen because they have ideas with incredibly disruptive potential but they are very early-stage and need support to get them to market ahead of the global competition,” said Ana Avaliani, head of enterprise at the Royal Academy of Engineering.
As well as receiving up to £50,000 to aid further development of their technology, the graduates will also become members of the Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub.
Each of the recipients was chosen because their innovation had mass-market potential, said the RAEng.
For example, it said the bioengineered water treatment membrane was up to 100 times cheaper and took 1,000 times less energy to produce than existing water treatment technologies, which might dramatically reduce the cost of cleaning polluted water across Europe.
The new sensing material was also a potentially transformative technology by being cheaper and easier to produce than traditional electronic controls, the RAEng said.
