Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering
The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, also known as the QEPrize, is a global engineering prize that rewards and celebrates the engineers responsible for a ground-breaking innovation in engineering that has been of global benefit to humanity. Launched in 2011 by a cross-party line up of the UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, and Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband, the £1 million prize and 3D printed trophy are awarded biennially in the name of Queen Elizabeth II.[2]
The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering | |
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Awarded for | Ground-breaking innovation in engineering which has been of global benefit to humanity |
Country | United Kingdom |
Presented by | The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation |
Reward(s) | Prize money of 1 million GBP and a trophy presented at Buckingham Palace |
First awarded | 2013 |
Winners | 4 prizes to 14 winners (as of 2020)[1] |
Website | qeprize |
The prize is run by the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation, a charitable company, limited by guarantee. The Foundation is chaired by Lord Browne of Madingley, with Dame Ann Dowling, Sir Paul Nurse, Mala Gaonkar, and Sir John Beddington serving as trustees. The QEPrize is funded by donations from the following international companies: BAE Systems, BP, GSK, Hitachi Ltd., Jaguar Land Rover, National Grid, Nissan Motor Corporation, Shell, Siemens UK, Sony, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel and Toshiba.
The Prize
The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering rewards an outstanding engineering-led advance that has produced tangible and widespread public benefit. Online nominations are encouraged from the public, engineering and science academies, universities, research organisations, and companies around the world. The only restriction is that self-nomination is not permitted, and that the prize not be awarded posthumously.[2] An international search group composed of eminent engineers sifts and develops the nominations before the judging process begins.[3]
The judging panel works from the information provided in the nomination, comments from referees and any additional information required in order to establish which nomination most fully meets the following prize criteria:
- What is it that this person has done (or up to five people have done) that is a ground-breaking innovation in engineering?
- In what way has this innovation been of global benefit to humanity?
- Is there anyone else who might claim to have had a pivotal role in this development?
The winner(s) of the QEPrize are announced every two years by the Chairman of the QEPrize Foundation. In the first four prize cycles, this announcement was held at the Royal Academy of Engineering and was attended by members of the British Royal Family. The QEPrize award ceremony takes place in the same year as the announcement, with the QEPrize trophy, designed by the winner of the Create the Trophy competition, presented to the winner(s) by a member of the Royal Family. In the first two prize cycles, the trophy was presented by the Queen. In the third and fourth prize cycle, the trophy was presented by the Prince of Wales.
Winners
Year | Invention | Recipient(s) | Nationality | Notes |
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2013 | The Internet and the World Wide Web | Robert Kahn | The inaugural prize was awarded to the five engineers responsible for the creation of the Internet and the World Wide Web. The announcement was made by Lord Browne of Madingley in the presence of Princess Anne on 18 March. The winners of the 2013 prize were:
On 25 June the winners received their award from Queen Elizabeth II in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in front of an audience that included the leaders of the UK’s three main political parties, QEPrize judges, and a number of young engineers. | |
Vinton Cerf | ||||
Louis Pouzin | ||||
Tim Berners-Lee | ||||
Marc Andreessen | ||||
2015 | Molecule drug delivery | Robert Langer | The 2015 prize was awarded to Robert Langer for his work in controlled-release large molecule drug delivery. The announcement was made by Lord Browne of Madingley in the presence of the Duke of York on 3 February. Dr Langer, who made a speech at the announcement, said he was “proud and privileged to win the biggest engineering prize in the world”. On 26 October, Langer received his award from Queen Elizabeth II [4] in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. | |
2017 | Digital Imaging Sensors | George E. Smith | The 2017 prize was awarded to the four engineers responsible for the creation of digital imaging sensors, an innovation that has facilitated advancements in medical treatments, science, communication, and entertainment. The announcement was made by Lord Browne of Madingley in the presence of the Princess Royal on 1 February.[5] The winners of the 2017 prize were:
On 6 December, the winners received their award from the Prince of Wales in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. | |
Michael Tompsett | ||||
Nobukazu Teranishi | ||||
Eric Fossum | ||||
2019 | Global Positioning System (GPS) | Bradford Parkinson | The 2019 prize was awarded to the four engineers responsible for the development of the first truly global, satellite-based positioning system (GPS)[1], whose combined efforts have enabled free, immediate access to accurate position and timing information for over 4 billion people around the world. Its applications range from navigation and disaster relief to climate monitoring and banking systems. The announcement was made by Lord Browne of Madingley in the presence of the Princess Royal on 12 February. The winners of the 2019 prize winners were:
On 3 December, the winners received their award from the Prince of Wales in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. | |
James Spilker, Jr | ||||
Hugo FrueHauf | ||||
Richard Schwartz |
External video | |
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- CCD inventor:
George Smith - Molecule drug delivery: Robert Langer
- WWW creator: Tim Berners-Lee
- "Father of GPS": Dr Bradford Parkinson
Judging Panel
Key
- Chair of Judges
- Judge
Judge | 2013 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Madam Deng Nan | ||||
Diane Greene | ||||
Dr Nathan Myhrvold | ||||
Lord Alec Broers | ||||
Professor Frances Arnold | ||||
Professor Brian Cox | ||||
Professor John L. Hennessy | ||||
Professor Calestous Juma | ||||
Narayana Murthy | ||||
Professor Choon Fong Shih | ||||
Professor Hiroshi Komiyama | ||||
Professor Dame Lynn Gladden | ||||
Professor Reinhard Huettl | ||||
Dr Dan Mote | ||||
Paul Westbury | ||||
Dr Chen Jining | ||||
Sir Christopher Snowden | ||||
Professor Viola Vogel | ||||
Dr Jean-Lou Chameau | ||||
Professor Brito Cruz | ||||
Dr Henry Yang | ||||
Jinghai Li | ||||
Professor Mary Boyce | ||||
Dr Raghunath Mashelkar | ||||
Ilya Marotta | ||||
Professor Jim Al-Khalili |
QEPrize Ambassador Network
The QEPrize Ambassador Network is an international network that brings together the best and brightest early-career engineers from all fields around the world, who work to inspire the next generation to take up the challenges of the future. QEPrize ambassadors act as evangelists for engineering, engaging with teachers, parents, school children, politicians, and journalists about their work and why engineering is such an important profession. The Ambassador Network became a global community in 2016.
Create the Trophy competition
The QEPrize trophy is designed by the winner of the Create the Trophy competition which, like the prize itself, runs every two years.[9] The competition, open to those aged between 14 and 24, gives young people the opportunity to get engaged with engineering by testing their design skills using the latest in 3D-design technology. Since 2017, the competition is open to entrants worldwide.[10] Entries are submitted online through the QEPrize3D app, which is available to download on Android and iOS devices. The QEPrize 3D design studio is a 3D modelling tool where entrants can design their creations at the touch of a finger using a variety of shapes and materials. Once complete, trophies can be exported to the device’s photo gallery or shared directly to social media. An additional feature allows users to export the design as a 3D print-ready .OBJ file. The Create the Trophy judging panel is currently chaired by Science Museum director, Ian Blatchford and comprises Roma Agrawal, a structural engineer at Interserve; Rebeca Ramos, Design&Creative Director, Creative Advisor and Founder of one on one; and Zoe Laughlin, co-founder and Director of the Institute of Making at University College London. Previous judges include Yewande Akinola, Dame Zaha Hadid, Sir Nicholas Serota, John Sorrell, Deyan Sudjic, David Rowan and Mark Miodownik.
Winners
2013: The inaugural Create the Trophy competition was won by Jennifer Leggett, 17. The national competition called for students to come up with a design capturing the essence of modern engineering. Jennifer Leggett's tree-like trophy design symbolises the growth of engineering and represents the way in which all areas of engineering are interlinked. After winning the competition Jennifer Leggett was invited to spend the day with designer Thomas Heatherwick before the design was finalised.
2015: The winner of the 2015 Create the Trophy competition was Euan Fairholm, 20, a mechanical engineering student at The University of Glasgow. His design, "The Golden Crown", was developed into a final form by BAE Systems and presented to Dr Robert Langer, the winner of the 2015 QEPrize.
2017: The winner of the 2017 Create the Trophy competition was Samuel Bentley, 15, from Wales, whose design was inspired by the highest Welsh peak, Snowdon. It was 3D printed by BAE Systems and presented to the 2017 QEPrize winners at Buckingham Palace.[11]
2019: The winner of the 2019 Create the Trophy competition was Jack Jiang, 16, from Hong Kong. Jack’s innovative design combines the traditional trophy form with elements from modern wind turbines.[1]
See also
References
- "Press page". Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
- "QEPrize home page". The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "Search Group - Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering". Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
- "Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering presented to Dr Robert Langer". Royal Academy of Engineering. 28 October 2015.
- Ford, Jason (1 February 2017). "Queen Elizabeth Prize awarded to creators of digital imaging sensors". The Engineer. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
- "Hugo Fruehauf". Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
- "Richard Schwartz". Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
- "GPS originator Richard Schwartz ME '57 Talks about his Work & the QEPrize | The Cooper Union". cooper.edu. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
- "Create the Trophy Competition - Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering". Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
- "Introducing the 2017 QEPrize trophy - Create the Future". Create the Future. 23 February 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
- "Introducing the 2017 QEPrize trophy - Create the Future". Create the Future. 23 February 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2017.