The Academy has awarded grants of between £5,000 and £10,000 to 14 alumni of its Leaders in Innovation Fellowships (LIF) programme to help them build high impact and collaborative local, regional, national or international communities of LIF participants.

The 14 awardees, known as LIF Champions, are leading the way in strengthening innovation ecosystems and engaging key stakeholders in support of entrepreneurship in Brazil, Colombia, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, Thailand and Vietnam.

The projects demonstrate a range of approaches to providing peer support and collaborations within their networks and to creating opportunities for networking and partnerships with business or innovation support networks and organisations that can help participants commercialise their innovations or multiply their impact.

The work of these new LIF Champions will build on the experience of 16 pilot projects in 2020, which collectively engaged over 530 alumni in knowledge sharing and networking activities, helped to set up new partnerships with 85 organisations and enabled 100 alumni to mentor other entrepreneurs within the local innovations ecosystems.

Innovation is the gateway for economic development and productivity of nations but creating an enabling environment for innovation and entrepreneurship can be challenging. Access to growth capital, knowledge networks, local experts and mentors, inspiring local role models, spaces for prototyping and manufacturing, and support between peers can make the difference between an entrepreneur succeeding or failing.

Through the art of community-building, LIF Champions are creating opportunities for entrepreneurs to further their impact and develop the social and economic welfare of their communities.

Note to editors:

1. The Leaders in Innovation Fellowships (LIF) programme brings together emerging leaders in the global innovation community who have an engineering-based innovation that has the potential to contribute to the social and economic development of their country through commercialisation. The programme is delivered as part of the UK Newton Fund in partnership with in-country organisations.

   Through LIF, the Academy has worked with government agencies and established innovation-support institutions in 17 countries across the Global South to establish a network of over 1,100 innovators (LIF alumni). LIF alumni have become influencers and decision-makers and developed a range of deep-tech and innovative solutions contributing to all the Sustainable Development Goals, which have gone on to be manufactured, tested, commercialised, and created more than 2,500 jobs.
    

2. The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone. In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public. Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

Media enquiries to: Pippa Cox at the Royal Academy of Engineering Tel. +44 207 766 0745; email: Pippa.Cox@raeng.org.uk 

• An engineering approach can help identify stakeholders with the necessary critical capabilities and build whole-society resilience

Investment in resilience now could plug key gaps in contacts and networks of the critical organisations necessary for emergency response in future, according to a report published today by the Royal Academy of Engineering. Critical capabilities: strengthening UK resilience recommends steps government should take to make the UK more resilient to new pandemics or other emergencies and avoid the mistakes of the past.

It will take time to fully understand the impact of the government’s approach to the current COVID-19 pandemic, so the report uses case studies of previous emergencies to argue that an engineering perspective could help the UK to build a more resilient future. Increased resilience will help us to better anticipate and recover from shocks to enable continued delivery of critical safety, food, energy and healthcare services.

Engineers are trained to make things work better. They see emergency response and planning as a series of interdependent and interconnected systems of capabilities. An effective national response to an emergency or crisis is one that can rapidly call on the right capabilities to deliver the most effective response at the required pace. The report describes this in terms of ‘critical capabilities’ and focuses on the actions needed to identify and build these critical capabilities ready for future emergencies.

The critical capabilities are divided into six interdependent groups: research and innovation; national assets; industrial capability; skills and labour; resources; and networks and coordination capability. Networks and coordination are essential as the bridging capability that brings the others together to understand the issue and accelerate solutions.

For national emergencies, the usually well-networked elements of the public sector and emergency services, though vital, are not sufficient and the emergency response will also need to draw on organisations, people and resources in the private and third sectors. Taking a systems view of the capabilities available in the UK could help anticipate which organisations would be relevant to different kinds of emergency responses and identify crucial connections and weaknesses ahead of time.  

Leveraging established and well-maintained links with private and third sector organisations and their capabilities is critically important but has not always been well managed and coordinated in the past. The report looks at lessons from the UK’s response to four past emergencies–the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption in 2010, the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, flooding in Lancaster in 2015, and the WannaCry ransomware incident affecting the NHS in 2017. It calls on government to partner with the engineering profession and others to build systems thinking and consideration of critical capabilities into the UK’s approach to preparedness.

The Academy’s recommendations include:

1. Government should embed an engineer’s ‘systems’ approach in emergency planning and preparedness, looking across the public and private sector stakeholders.

2. Government should carry out an audit to map existing public, private and third sector capabilities and convening bodies against the critical capability groups and suggests this should be led by the Cabinet Office Civil Contingencies Secretariat (CCS) in partnership with the Government Office for Science (GO-Science), devolved administrations and departmental resilience teams responsible for the risks in the National Risk Register. An aim of the audit should include developing a reporting framework to engage the private sector and build a practical mechanism to keep the audit as live as possible.

3. The CCS, in partnership with GO-Science, should work with the Royal Academy of Engineering and others to develop the critical capabilities approach into a practical tool for emergency planning, preparedness and resilience that builds on existing capabilities programmes. This should include embedding the practices for preparedness alongside current foresight and horizon scanning methods and exercises to identify and ensure that the right capabilities are in place to respond effectively and with agility to future scenarios and risks.

Paul Taylor FREng, Chair of the Academy’s Critical Capabilities working group, said: “Whatever practices and procedures are in place to help with the UK’s preparedness for future emergencies, they risk missing the mark without systems thinking and consideration of critical capabilities.

“The Integrated Review calls for a whole-society approach to resilience and Critical Capabilities is a proposal to think ahead, strategically and inclusively. Now more than ever we understand the crucial role businesses and those networks between public and private organisations can play in responding to emergencies. While upfront investment is required to strengthen existing capabilities and remedy gaps, long-term benefits will be delivered through an improved emergency response and increased national resilience.”

Dick Elsy CBE FREng, CEO of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, said: “The critical capabilities approach highlights the importance of networks and coordination to bring together a range of capabilities to deliver an effective emergency response. The High Value Manufacturing Catapult played this role in the COVID-19 emergency, rapidly mobilising our network to draw on specialist expertise, innovation and industrial capability across 33 organisations to deliver more than 13,000 ventilators for the NHS in record time. Agility, skills and relationships were essential to the response showing that long-term investment in a knowledge-based economy can deliver both resilience and socioeconomic benefits.”

Ends

Notes for Editors

1. Critical capabilities: strengthening UK resilience was prepared by a working group consisting of the following group of Academy Fellows, commenting in a personal capacity and not as representatives of their respective organisations:

Chair: Paul Taylor FREng, Director, Morgan Stanley International
Sir John Beddington CMG HonFReng FRS FRSE, previously Government Chief Science Adviser
Lianne Deeming FREng, Chief Executive Officer, BlueLight Commercial
Professor Anthony Finkelstein CBE FREng, Chief Scientific Adviser for National Security
Professor David Gann CBE, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Development and External Affairs, University of Oxford
Dame Judith Hackitt DBE FREng, Chair of Make UK
Professor Nick Jennings CB FREng, Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise), Imperial College London
Professor Dame Angela McLean DBE FRS, Chief Scientific Adviser, Ministry of Defence
Professor Tim Palmer CBE FRS, Royal Society Research Professor in Climate Physics, University of Oxford
Dr Fiona Rayment OBE FREng, Chief Science and Technology Officer, National Nuclear Laboratory
Catriona Schmolke FREng, Previously Senior Vice-President, Jacobs
Auriol Stevens, Global IT Director, Applied Technology, Unilever
Professor Eleanor Stride FREng, Professor of Engineering Science, University of Oxford
Rear Admiral John Trewby CB FREng, Chair, previously Chair of Harris Defence Ltd

2. The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone. In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public. Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

Media enquiries to: Pippa Cox at the Royal Academy of Engineering Tel. +44 207 766 0745; email: Pippa.Cox@raeng.org.uk

• Expansion of Amazon Future Engineer bursary scheme will support women students from low-income households studying computer science and related engineering courses at UK universities

The Royal Academy of Engineering is working with Amazon to launch a new Amazon Future Engineer bursary scheme in the UK. Twelve awards, worth £5,000 a year for up to four years, will be made available to students progressing from A level or technical education courses to university for the 2021/22 academic year. The new bursaries will help students who demonstrate a drive and passion for computing and engineering, and an understanding of how innovation and creativity in these fields can help solve some of the world’s greatest challenges.

Women are still significantly underrepresented in engineering and technology in higher education. UCAS data on university application and acceptance figures for the 2020 cycle highlighted that women represent just 16% and 18% of accepted applications to computing and engineering degrees respectively. At the current rate of progress, parity of women in engineering degrees will not be achieved until 2085.

Dr Hayaatun Sillem CBE, Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said: “The Academy and Amazon share an ambition to inspire and support young people to become the next generation of engineers, and I welcome the opportunity to work together in encouraging more women and girls from all backgrounds to take up careers in engineering and computing. We need a greater diversity of views and experiences working within these professions if we are to come up with effective solutions to the many challenges that society faces. At the current rate of progress, to achieve the same number of women as men on degree courses for these subjects would take another 74 years. We simply cannot afford to wait that long.”

“Our new bursary scheme with the Royal Academy of Engineering will help more women become the innovation leaders of the UK” said John Boumphrey, UK Country Manager, Amazon. “More needs to be done to encourage women to enter these fields and break down barriers that students face. The Amazon Future Engineer bursary scheme is just one of the ways that we are helping to increase the representation of women in the UK innovation economy and exciting careers in computer science.”

Amazon Future Engineer bursaries are open to students enrolling onto courses such as electrical and electronic engineering, computer science, artificial intelligence and software engineering in the UK. The bursaries will focus on areas of the UK that have been identified as social mobility cold spots—places in the country where opportunities and outcomes for young people need improving. Awardees will be invited to attend annual networking and training weekends and will have access to a community forum providing support from the Royal Academy of Engineering and Amazon. They will also receive news of available internships, as well as mentoring and funding to help them progress from university into engineering and computing careers.

The bursary scheme is part of Amazon Future Engineer, Amazon’s comprehensive childhood-to-career programme to inspire, educate and enable children and young adults from lower-income backgrounds to try computer science and related engineering courses.

Notes for Editors

1. UCAS data on university application and acceptance figures for the 2020 cycle published on ucas.com, 4 February 2021: ‘Students turn to technology with university choices’ – https://www.ucas.com/corporate/news-and-key-documents/news/students-turn-technology-university-choices
2. Applications for bursaries for academic year 2021/2022 can be made via the Royal Academy of Engineering here: www.raeng.org.uk/afebursary
3. As part of Amazon’s commitment to developing the next generation of engineers and computer scientists, Amazon are also supporting a number of Royal Academy of Engineering initiatives, including the national Connecting STEM Teachers programme; a support network for teachers across all STEM subjects that ensures they have the knowledge and confidence to engage a greater number and wider spectrum of school students with STEM. The programme works with 1,000 schools and operates across all regions of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
4. Amazon also support This is Engineering a campaign that brings engineering to life for young people, giving more of them the opportunity to pursue a career that is rewarding, future-shaping, varied, well-paid and in-demand.
5. About Amazon: Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion or invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalised recommendations, Prime, Fulfilment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit aboutamazon.co.uk and follow @AmazonNewsUK.
6. About Amazon in the Community: Amazon has long been committed to communities where our employees live and work and we focus on building long-term, innovative, and high impact programmes that leverage Amazon’s unique assets and culture. We want all children and young adults to have the resources and skills to build their best future. We concentrate on “right now needs” – via programmes that address hunger, homelessness, and disaster relief efforts – as well as programmes like Amazon Future Engineer, designed to inspire and excite children and young adults from underrepresented communities to pursue careers in the rapidly growing field of computer science.
7. The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone. In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public. Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

Media enquiries to Pippa Cox at the Royal Academy of Engineering: E: pippa.cox@raeng.org.uk; T: 020 7766 0645