Deadline Date: January 31, 2026
The MacRobert Award, supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering, recognises outstanding engineering innovation through team-based achievements that demonstrate excellence in innovation, commercial success, and benefit to society.
The focus of the opportunity includes a nominated liaison person for matters such as site visits and publicity, with the organisation named required to be registered in the UK, normally a minimum of five individuals nominated who have played a significant part in the engineering innovation, no requirement for individuals to be chartered engineers or currently employed by the organisation, availability of named individuals for the Judging Panel if shortlisted, allowance for team members from more than one organisation where there has been cross-organisational collaboration, no relevance of nationality of individuals, £50,000 prize money awarded to individual team members rather than the company, commitment to diversity with encouragement of applications from women and other underrepresented groups in engineering, submission of a project or innovation title using no more than 10 words, consideration of engineering innovations in any area of engineering, applied science, technology or medicine, identification of the specific innovative component in larger projects with substantial UK content, clear differentiation between the innovation and any background or prior work, and provision of web links to pages, videos or multimedia presentations to describe the innovation.
The Award requires applicants to identify a suitable contact person who can liaise with the MacRobert Award team on operational matters, although this individual does not need to be a member of the nominated team. While the ultimate ownership of the organisation is not relevant, the applying organisation must be registered in the United Kingdom. Applications are expected to be team-based, with normally at least five individuals named who have made a significant contribution to the innovation. Team members may come from multiple organisations where collaboration has taken place, and individuals do not need to be chartered engineers or currently employed by the organisation at the time of submission.
Should an application progress to the shortlist stage, nominated individuals must be prepared to engage with the Judging Panel and respond to detailed questions on the breadth and depth of the innovation. The prize money associated with the Award is granted directly to the individual team members. The Award welcomes submissions from across all areas of engineering, applied science, technology, and medicine. For large or complex projects, applicants are expected to clearly identify the specific innovative component being submitted and ensure it demonstrates substantial UK content and originality.
Applicants are required to clearly distinguish the claimed innovation from any wider programme of work or prior developments. While no additional background material is required at the initial stage, applicants may include relevant web links or multimedia resources to help describe the innovation, with further information requested if the submission advances in the selection process.
For more information, visit Royal Academy of Engineering.
