The 2022 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (QEPrize) is today awarded to Japan’s Dr Masato Sagawa for his work on the discovery, development and global commercialisation of the sintered Neodymium Iron Boron permanent magnet - the world’s most powerful permanent magnet - which has been transformational in its contribution towards enabling cleaner, energy saving technologies.
Dr Sagawa was announced as the winner of the 2022 QEPrize – awarded annually to celebrate the critical role that engineering plays in global society – by Lord Browne of Madingley, Chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation.
Dr Sagawa pioneered the development of a sintered rare-earth permanent magnet, the sintered neodymium-iron-boron (Nd-Fe-B) magnet. His breakthrough innovation was the creation of a new compound formed by replacing scarce and expensive cobalt and samarium with more abundant and cheaper iron and neodymium, and at the same time introducing boron to improve the magnetic properties – the first step in delivering high performance to a mass market.
Dr Sagawa then led the research and development in the 1980s and early 1990s to successfully overcome the issues of sudden reduction of magnetic coercivity at high temperature, most notably by adding dysprosium (Dy) to improve heat resistance. This resulted in the development of high-volume manufacturing techniques which successfully commercialised his innovation. For even wider applications, he continued to develop novel techniques for reducing the amount of dysprosium or even eliminating its use to help preserve natural resources.
The result was a new magnet for the mass market that almost doubled the performance of the previous best and successfully turned Nd-Fe-B magnets into a viable industrial material with wide applications. The new magnet has a significant advantage in high-efficiency and high-torque density applications, such as motors and generators for electric vehicles and wind power generation, and in more general applications where small powerful magnets are required, including robots, automation systems and domestic appliances.
Not only is the Nd-Fe-B market predicted to be worth over $19.3 billion by 2026, but this type of permanent magnet is also essential to the value chain of 8.5 million electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles in use globally, demonstrating a prolific impact on the entire economy.
“Receiving the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering is a special moment for me, as this prestigious prize encapsulates what engineering is all about.
“The purpose of engineering is to benefit humankind, and this award inspires engineers to keep working towards their goals. Engineering is essential to solving today’s most pressing issues, and this includes tackling climate change. While neodymium magnets have a wide range of applications, one of the most important is its use for climate economy products, such as electric vehicles and wind turbines. I am therefore honoured to be part of the engineering profession’s contribution towards the fight against climate change, and equally as honoured to receive this unique prize,” said Dr Masato Sagawa.
“This innovation is inside almost every electric vehicle, and its application ranges from the smartphone in your pocket to offshore wind turbines providing clean energy – a material that is supporting our way of life today and our way of life in the future. That's the essence of engineering; producing and delivering for humanity again and again. Dr Masato Sagawa's permanent magnet is the embodiment of that very essence.” Lord Browne of Madingley, Chairman, Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation
"The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering is a true celebration of the achievements of engineering worldwide, and how they benefit the planet. It is a fantastic vehicle for engaging people of all ages to demonstrate how engineering impacts our daily life. This year’s prize is awarded to Dr Sagawa and his innovation of sintered neodymium magnets – an innovation which has had such an impact both on the way we live now, and how we will live in the future, especially as we look towards a greener one." Professor Dame Lynn Gladden, Chair of the QEPrize Judging Panel
Dr Sagawa will be formally honoured at the QEPrize presentation ceremony later this year. He will receive £500,000 and a unique trophy, designed by the 2022 Create the Trophy winner Anshika Agarwal, aged 17 from India.
Marking a significant milestone in the evolution of the QEPrize, Dr Sagawa becomes the first laureate since it was announced that the Prize will be awarded annually, rather than bi-annually. Reflecting the increasing pace of engineering innovation, this step change will offer further opportunities to recognise excellence across the whole field of engineering.
Find out more about the winners at the QEPrize website
QEPrize’s judges say:
Professor Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz: “What the QEPrize judges look for are engineering creations that have had a substantial impact to the benefit of humankind. Dr Sagawa was the clear winner this year. Magnets are an essential element of modern technology. They are a vital part of electrical motors, earpieces that we use for communication, and even enable clean and efficient energy generation through wind turbines.”
Dr Abdigani Diriye: “What really speaks to me about Dr Sagawa's super magnet is his perseverance, commitment, and decades’ worth of experimentation through trial and error. That is a great lesson for many of us, especially those who are looking for a career in engineering.”
Dr Alan Finkel: “What's exciting about the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering is that you're choosing between the creme de la crème, the best of the best. Ultimately you get challenged to make that call between extraordinary inventions from extraordinarily capable engineers. It's tough, but exciting. We are seeking to find the best engineers in the world who are producing globally relevant and ground-breaking technologies.”
Dr John Anderson: “Dr Sagawa’s innovation is a great example of outstanding engineering. It drives many technologies we use every day. However very few members of the public would recognise what it does for our society, as it’s hidden. Dr Sagawa also went through the entire process of this innovation – from the invention to the development, to the manufacturing, and that is the epitome of the highest level of engineering.”
Professor Jim Al-Khalili OBE: “For over a century, we've celebrated the advances in science, in medicine, in physics, in chemistry and biology. Until the QEPrize, we haven't properly celebrated the innovations and inventions in technology and engineering. We talk about science as helping us to understand how the world works and gain new knowledge. Engineering is about putting that knowledge to use to help humankind. This Prize is about celebrating the contribution that it’s made to humanity – the many wonderful inventions and innovations which we often take for granted.”
Professor Tatsuya Okubo: “Dr Sagawa’s innovation is a game-changer. Dr Sagawa is renowned across wider Japanese society for his ability to invent using basic materials. Previously, cobalt magnets were the strongest but in replacing cobalt with iron, one of the most common elements on earth, Dr Sagawa discovered a new, more widely available internal component that could be used. The result was a magnet that not only offered superior performance but was also easier to make, meaning it could be applied in more ways and used in lots of new technologies.”
Dr Raghunath Anant Mashelkar: “The entire world is looking at a green future with green energy. Electric vehicles are fundamental, and they must use electric motors – 90% of the electric motors use these neodymium-iron-boron magnets. When you look at our challenges on climate change, we really need breakthroughs, like this innovation, because we don't have time to waste.”
Ilya Marotta: “Dr Sagawa was very persistent – he worked on this project for many years. He found some resistance and even though there were obstacles, he persisted. He had resilience, he continued. In engineering, you must be creative, innovative, patient. You need to fail and try again. This innovation demonstrates that great things don't come easy and fast; they require patience and perseverance.”
Josephine Cheng: “Dr Sagawa received this year’s award, not only because of the innovation, but the entire journey of the innovation – from the discovery of a new material that is much cheaper and abundant, to replacing rare earth materials, which are very expensive and hard to find. And this is only the beginning.”
Paul Westbury CBE: “Engineering is an incredibly exciting place to be right now. The world needs incredible solutions, just like this innovation. There is no better time than now for people to come together to create multidisciplinary teams to solve these big, difficult conundrums.Dr Sagawa has dedicated his life to the development of this very special type of magnet. It's one piece of many pieces that come together to create incredible solutions in multiple sectors all around the world – from healthcare, to automation, through energy generation, audio systems, hard drives, and computer storage.”
Professor Dr Dr h.c. Viola Vogel: “This innovation has had such a big impact on so many areas of society – from electric cars to biomedical sciences. Without this incredible magnet, there’s so much we couldn’t do and develop for the good of our planet. The innovation demonstrates the truly global nature of the Queen Elizabeth Prize, and the impact of engineering around the world.”
Dr Henry Yang: “Engineers are problem solvers, and this innovation gives us an incredible amount of solutions to a breadth of challenges. Particularly as we look ahead to the next 10 years to a greener future, this innovation’s contribution to the evolution of electric cars is incredibly important. We as a society need engineers to help us create the technologies we haven’t had before and to continuously improve our quality and health of life, especially when the population continues to grow. We need to find new ways to address our needs in a sustainable way.”
Notes to editors:
About the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering
Diverse, multifaceted, and continually evolving, engineering creates the solutions to global challenges and improves billions of lives. Engineers have enabled us to work together across the planet, explore the smallest cells and the most distant stars, and navigate our way through the world.
Now awarded every year, the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (QEPrize) champions bold, groundbreaking engineering innovation which is of global benefit to humanity. The prize celebrates engineering’s visionaries, inspiring young minds to consider engineering as a career choice and to help to solve the challenges of the future.
The prize also encourages engineers to help extend the boundaries of what is possible across all disciplines and applications.
The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering is open to:
- up to five living individuals;
- of any nationality;
- Who are personally responsible for a groundbreaking innovation in engineering which has been of global benefit to humanity. self-nomination is not permitted.
- The trustees reserve the right to reject any nomination where, in their reasonable opinion, there is or is likely to be a conflict of interest between the nominees, nominators, or any referees and any other nomination or the prize more generally.
The judges will use these criteria to select the winner, or winners, of the QEPrize:
- What is it that they have done that is a groundbreaking innovation in engineering?
- In what way has this innovation been of global benefit to humanity?
- Are there any other individuals who might claim to have had a pivotal role in this development?
For more information please contact:
Jane Sutton at the Royal Academy of Engineering
T: 020 7766 0636
E: Jane Sutton