The Royal Academy of Engineering has opened a call for its Enterprise Fellowships programme. This programme supports creative and entrepreneurial engineers who have an exceptional innovation that they plan to develop further. The programme aims to equip engineers with the confidence, skills, experience and networks needed to bring innovation to market.

To date, the Academy has supported over 150 individuals, who have gone on to attract over £210 million in additional funding and create over 1120 jobs.

The Fellowship is a prize awarded to the most promising engineering and technology entrepreneurs, and applications are only open twice a year.

Who is eligible to apply?

  • Researchers wishing to spinout a company from a university
  • Recent graduates wishing to create a company
  • International PhD students already based in the UK wishing to spinout or startup here.

Please see the guidance notes for the full eligibility criteria.

What’s on offer?

  • Between £50,000 – £60,000 equity-free funding towards your salary and business costs
  • Expert mentoring
  • 15 training days and plus 1:1 coaching
  • PR and marketing support
  • Access to the Academy’s co-working and meeting space, the Taylor Centre, in central London

The closing date for stage 1 (which is a short application form) is 31 August 2021, 4pm. If you’d like to find out more, contact Gillian Gregg, Senior Business Development Manager of the Northern Ireland Enterprise Hub. She is happy to meet with potential applicants and provide guidance on submissions.

For more information on the Fellowship programme, visit the Royal Academy of Engineering website.

Previous Northern Ireland Enterprise Fellowship successes

Movetru: Combining machine learning with technical textiles to improve outcomes for elite athletes

From graduate engineer to single female founder, Naomi McGregor talks about how she is using the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Enterprise Fellowship programme to achieve her mission to apply her product design skills for social good.

Virtual physiotherapy at home – using AI and VR to enable independence for stroke-recovery patients

Success for Dominic Holmes means faster, better upper limb recovery for patients impacted by stroke. Supported by his university commercialisation office, this early career researcher joined the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Enterprise Fellowship programme in July 2021 to take spinout company eXRt Intelligent Healthcare to the next level.

So if you are an entrepreneurial engineer with an innovation you want to develop further, take a look at the Enterprise Fellowship Programme. The application only takes 30 minutes and it could bring you one step closer to £60k funding, business support and mentoring.