The Royal Academy of Engineering announces plans to back eight UK university innovations with business potential.

The UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) has revealed that it will support eight researchers from UK universities with inventions that show business potential.

Each researcher will be awarded up to £85,000 ($140,000) to develop a spin-out business, as well as receiving mentoring from the RAE’s Enterprise Fellowship scheme. Mentors include Sir Robin Saxby, the former chief executive of Cambridge spin-out ARM, and Neville Jackson, chief technology and innovation officer at engineering firm Ricardo.

The announcement marks the third and largest inductee list into the RAE’s Enterprise scheme, which seeks to provide the resources and mentorship to enable researchers to cross the innovation valley-of-death, develop business skills, and access further funding.

John Parker, president of the RAE, said: “Engineering already contributes at least £480 billion to the UK economy each year, and the ability to create wealth from innovation is essential in building a stronger and more competitive economy. By bridging the gap between industry and academia and enabling entrepreneurship to thrive, the Academy’s Enterprise Hub aims to ensure that the country’s brightest entrepreneurial minds are given the best possible chance to succeed, whilst helping to bring new technologies and services to market for the benefit of society.”

Arnoud Jullens, head of enterprise at the RAE, added: “UK universities produce some of the greatest innovations in the world, but getting them out of the lab and into the marketplace remains a huge challenge. Business-minded academics need investment and support from experienced industry practitioners to exploit their research, which could become the commercial success stories of tomorrow, and this is exactly what the Academy’s Enterprise Hub provides.”

The beneficiaries and their innovations are:

  • Benjamin Kingsbury (Imperial College London) – Half-size catalytic converter that reduces automotive emissions and saves fuel
  • Richard Nock (University of Bristol) – Low cost cutting-edge research tools for scientists in cancer research and quantum computers
  • Philip Orr (University of Strathclyde) – Advanced instrumentation for next-generation energy systems such as smart grids
  • Loren Picco (University of Bristol) – The world’s fastest atomic force microscope
  • Daniel Plant (Imperial College London) – ‘Smart’ clothing to protect elderly from hip fractures
  • Dr Sithamparanathan Sabesan (University of Cambridge) – Goods and luggage tagging and tracking system that can pinpoint items with near 100% accuracy
  • Professor Jon Timmis (University of York) – Computer modelling software for drug development to treat autoimmune diseases
  • Dr Ian Wakeman (University of Sussex) – Software that enables smartphone apps to crowd-share data bandwidth in congested areas