A nationwide search is underway for the most imaginative and inspiring developments in engineering and the challenge has gone out to organisations concerned with sustainability and the environment to ensure that the sector is recognised as a centre of innovation.
The winners of the 2007 IET Innovation Awards will be announced at a special ceremony in November, recognising those genuinely creative ideas that will improve the way we live and work.
Following a poor showing in 2006, supplying only 2% of last year’s entries, industries in the sustainability sector struggled to find their place on the UK Innovations map – but can this position be improved in 2007?
Now in their third year, the awards, supported by the DTI, are a showcase for the brightest ideas, highlighting the importance of innovation by celebrating its application across a range of engineering disciplines.
Paul Jackson, the IET’s Director of Professional Operations, said: “These awards are about encouraging and promoting innovation – our economy is driven by innovative organisations and the entrepreneurs that they inspire”.
Last year’s winners included improved pedestrian safety features on the new Jaguar XK; a technique of using seawater to cultivate crops in hot, arid coastal areas; an early-warning system for nurses and doctors in Intensive Care Units; and a project using microwaves to detect breast cancer.
Entries will be judged by a panel of recognised industry leaders and experts, and are being called for from organisations and individuals with an innovative engineering project, product or process for commercial use, that demonstrates genuine innovation and represents a significant technological advance.
The closing date for entries is 30 June. For details of how to submit your entry, please visit www.theiet.org/innovationawards