Royal Academy of Engineering 2018/2019 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa (£35,000 Prize)

Application Deadline: 4pm GMT on 23 July 2018.

The Africa Prize encourages ambitious and talented sub-Saharan African engineers from all disciplines to apply their skills to develop scalable solutions to local challenges, highlighting the importance of engineering as an enabler of improved quality of life and economic development.

Benefits:

• Following this period of mentorship, finalists are invited to present at an event held in Africa and a winner is selected to receive £25,000 along with runners-up, who are each awarded £10,000.
• Crucial commercialisation support is awarded to a shortlist of innovative applicants through a six-month period of training and mentoring.

Eligibility Requirements:

To be eligible:

• Applicants must be individuals or small groups.
• Individual applicants must be citizens of a country within sub-Saharan Africa. For teams of two or more, the lead applicant must be a citizen of a country within sub-Saharan Africa.
• The innovation must be based in a country in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Applicants must have an engineering innovation, though are not required to be an engineering graduate or student.

• Applicants must provide a letter of support from a university or research institution, this can be as simple as stating an individual studied at that institution. If applicants are not affiliated with a university, another document proving the status of your organisation or innovation, such as a document of incorporation or similar, can be used.

• Industrial researchers and establishments are not eligible.
• The lead applicant must be over the age of 18. There is no upper age limit.
• The applicant’s innovation can be any new product, technology or service, based on research in engineering defined in its broadest sense to encompass a wide range of fields, including: agricultural technology, biotechnology, chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer science, design engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, ICT, materials science, mechanical engineering, and medical engineering. If you are in any doubt that your area of expertise would be considered engineering, then please contact the Academy to discuss your application.
• Applicants should have achieved the development of, and be in the early stages of commercialising, an engineering innovation that:

1. ​Will bring social and/or environmental benefits to a country/countries in sub-Saharan Africa
2. Has strong potential to be replicated and scaled up
3. Is accompanied by an ambitious but realistic business plan which has strong commercial viability

How to Apply:

• All applications must be submitted via the online Grant System, available here: https://grants.raeng.org.uk. You must register though the system before you can apply
• The application form has six sections and will take approximately 1.5 hours to complete.
• A CV and letter of support is required.
• Submission of a video and any photos or diagrams to illustrate your innovation are strongly encouraged

• After logging in to the online Grant System and selecting the relevant scheme “Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation 2018/19” you should be presented with the ‘Instructions’ screen. Here you will see some general instructions on how to use the system as well as the six sections of the application form:

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation 2018/19