What type of innovations does the MacRobert Award accept?
The MacRobert Award accepts nominations which demonstrate innovation in any area of engineering, applied science, technology or medicine. We’re looking for truly groundbreaking, transformative technologies which has been commercially successful and demonstrated societal good.
To find our more about the wide variety of innovations we’ve celebrated in the past, check out our previous winners and finalists.
Are self nominations accepted?
Yes. We accept self-nominations for the MacRobert Award. The person making the nomination does not need to be one of the listed team members.
Part of the criteria is to demonstrate ‘proven commercial success’ – what does this mean?
Evidence of commercial success must be provided in your nomination form. This should 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 understand that, depending on the technology or discipline, commercial success is not always possible to be measured 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. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- a major funding round that supports the company through to significant sales,
- sale of licenses,
- significant sales/orders,
- other indicators of future commercial success, including take up and use of technology and software outside your company.
Please note that commercial success is not measured by how much money has been spent on, or invested in, the project.
Can small businesses be nominated for the MacRobert Award?
Yes. The MacRobert Award is open to organisations of all sizes. If you have an outstanding technological innovation with proven commercial success and societal benefit then we want to hear from you whether you’re an up and coming SME or household name!
This is an award for UK innovation. We’re owned by an organisation which isn’t based in the UK – is this a problem?
No. Overall ownership of an organisation is not relevant –previous winners including Google DeepMind and Microsoft Research have been owned by organisations not based in the UK.
As long as the organisation named on the form is registered in the UK it is eligible for the MacRobert Award.
Who are the MacRobert Award judges?
The MacRobert Award judges are made up of experts in engineering, innovation and entrepreneurship. The majority of judges are Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
The current judging panel consists of:
- Dr Alison Vincent CBE FREng (Chair of Judges)
Non-Executive Director; Bytes Technology Group Plc; Non-Executive Director: Synectics Plc - Dr Rajapillai Ahilan FREng
Chief Energy Transition Officer, AqualisBraemar LOC ASA - Dr Steve Allpress FREng
Chief Executive Officer, Folio Intelligence - Dr Jeremy Burroughes FREng FRS
Chief Technology Officer, Cambridge Display Technology Ltd - Dr Loubna Bouarfa
CEO - Okra.AI - Professor Jonathan Cooper FREng
Wolfson Chair of Bioengineering, University of Glasgow - Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein CBE FREng
President, City; University of London - Professor Gordon Masterton OBE DL FREng FRSE (MacRobert Trustee) Trustee; The MacRobert Trust; Chair of Future Infrastructure, University of Edinburgh; Former Vice-President, Jacobs
- Indro Mukerjee HonFREng
Former CEO - Innovate UK - Professor Mercedes Maroto Valer FRSE
Deputy Principal for Global Sustainability , Director of the Research Centre for Carbon Solutions - Heriot Watt University - Dr Ruth McKernan CBE FMedSci
Venture Partner, SV Health Investors & Dementia Discovery Fund
Want to find out more about what makes the MacRobert Award judges tick? You can check out our ‘Meet the Judges’ series.
Who should I nominate as the team members and do they need to be engineers?
Normally a minimum of 5 team members should be nominated. Nominated team members must be able to demonstrate their close involvement in the successful development of the innovation. Typically, a cross section of the organisation, of varying degrees of seniority, makes up the nominated team members.
It is not a requirement that team members are chartered engineers. The nationality of the team members is not relevant.
The nominated team members do not need to be currently employed by the organisation at the time of submitting the nomination, but all team members will be expected to make themselves available to the judges should your nomination be shortlisted further.
Where do I submit my nomination?
All nominations must be submitted via the Academy’s online portal.
Do you accept resubmissions?
Previous nominations are welcome to submit a new application each year, using previous feedback provided by the judging panel.
However, if you are publicly announced as a finalist, you will not be allowed to resubmit with the same innovation in future rounds. Previous finalists and winners are welcome to submit again with a new technology.
I’ve submitted a nomination for the MacRobert Award! What happens next?
Once the deadline of 5pm, 31 January has passed, the judges will spend the next few weeks assessing each eligible nomination which is received.
You will receive correspondence from the MacRobert team confirming the outcome of your submission by late March 2025.
Are nominations made public?
Nominations for the MacRobert Award will only be become public knowledge should you be announced as finalist in June 2025.
I’ve got multiple innovations – is more than one nomination acceptable?
Yes. An organisation can submit up to 3 separate nominations in one year.
