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MacRobert Award
Guidance notes for submissions for the MacRobert Award
The submission process
using the on-line application form is very
straightforward. This simply calls for the following:
1. Contact Information
This is the person with whom the Award
Secretariat can liaise over such matters as site visits
(see the Judging Process), publicity and so on. The person
need not necessarily be a member of the team.
2. The name of the organisation
submitting the application
The Award is open to any individual or organisation
of any size in the public, private or charitable sectors. The Gold Medal
will be presented to the head of this organisation, and the name of this
organisation will appear on the Gold Medal presented to the winner.
Although the ultimate ownership of the organisation
is not relevant, the organisation named on this form must be registered in
the UK.
3. The name of the project or
innovation being submitted / Title of Submission
Please use no more than 10
words.
Applications will be
considered for engineering innovations in any area
of engineering, applied science, technology or
medicine.
In the case of larger
projects, it is specifically the innovatory
component that should be identified.
The innovatory component
should have a substantial UK content.
4. The name of the individuals
responsible for the innovation
A maximum of five individuals
may be nominated, all of whom should have played a
pre-eminent part in the engineering innovation. It
is not a requirement that the individuals be
chartered engineers.
It is not a requirement that
the individuals be still employed by the
organisation. However, should the submission
progress to the short list stage, the individuals
will be expected to make themselves available for
questioning by the Judging Panel.
The nationality of the
individuals carrying out the work is not relevant.
5. The Summary of the Submission
Since the primary criteria for the Award is Innovation, care should be taken to differentiate between the content of this project and any background or prior work or any larger accomplishment of which this is a part.
There is no need to provide any additional background material at this stage.
Please note that, should the submission progress to the short list stage, additional information may then be requested.
In considering applications for The MacRobert Award, the Judging Panel uses the following criteria:
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Innovation (no more than a 500 word summary on the submission form)
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Commercial Success (no more than a 250 word summary on the submission form)
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Benefit to the community (no more than a 250 word summary on the submission form)
All three criteria may be interpreted very broadly so as to reflect the very diverse nature of 21st Century engineering and its role in every aspect of modern society. The following notes may help to align the submission with these criteria.
Innovation
The most important task is to
define as clearly as possible the specific
innovation being claimed, identifying the benefits
of the innovation to end users as well as its
advantages over competitive solutions. The Judging
Panel should not be asked to review a successful
engineering/commercial development and select some
component of it for consideration.
Among points that may be
considered for inclusion in the submission are: how
does the submission differ from previous solutions
that have addressed the particular application
involved? What are the particular technical or
commercial advantages of the new approach? (These
might include creating a new market, improved
performance, design for economic manufacture,
improved reliability, ease of maintenance etc.).
Have patents, or any other external recognition,
been granted for the innovative components of the
project?
If other companies,
universities, suppliers or partners have been
involved in the project, explain how their role
relates to the claimed innovation.
Commercial Success
Evidence of commercial success
should be provided. This should normally include
numeric information on, for example, sales and/or
installations, market penetration or customer usage.
An indication should be given as to how the success
is likely to be maintained.
The Judging Panel recognise
that, for some organisations and submissions,
commercial success may not be measurable in strictly
financial terms. In these cases, the panel will wish
to see evidence that the users at whom the
innovation is aimed have fully embraced it within
their applications and/or businesses. They will also
expect to see that the scale of the success is
commensurate with the scale of the innovation and
the applications at which it is aimed.
Please note that commercial
success is not measured by how much money has been
spent on, or invested in, the project.
Benefit to the community
Benefit to the community can
arise in a number of different ways, according to
the specifics of the innovation and the context
within which it is deployed. Examples, include – but are not limited
to – health & safety, national security,
environmental improvement, employment, exports,
spin-off activity and so on.
Confidentiality
The Academy’s web site is
secure. Your submission will not be visible to
others.
All material submitted for the
Award is treated as confidential and will not be
disclosed to anybody beyond the Judging Panel and
the Secretariat involved in the evaluation process.
Eventual disposal of any submission will be carried
out with due regard for the confidential nature of
the contents.
The fact that the organisation
has made a submission for the Award is not publicly
disclosed unless the submission becomes a finalist
(See Judging Process).
Contact Details
If you have any questions,
please contact:
Sylvia Hampartumian
Tel: 020 7766 0648
Email
macrobert@raeng.org.uk
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