RAEng launches Global Grand Challenges Competition

Described as a “seven-month programme of challenge-led innovation, design and business development”, the competition will involve teams of between four and six undergraduates from universities across the UK. At a February workshop hosted by UCL, successful applicants will be tasked with developing an engineering solution to a global problem. A competition showcase will then be held in April, when the five best teams will be selected to represent the UK internationally.

Those teams will go on to develop business plans for their designs in June at a Business Development Bootcamp, before heading to Washington DC in July to compete against teams from the US and China at the Global Grand Challenges Summit. This will be the third in a series of global summits jointly sponsored by the national academies of engineering in each of the three countries. Speakers to date have included Bill Gates, Jack Ma, Dr Craig Venter, Prof Frances Arnold and Prof Jeffrey Sachs.

Teams must be led by a student from an engineering programme, but are encouraged to include members with multidisciplinary skills. Universities are permitted to enter more than one team, and applications must be made by 27 January 2017. The workshop (February), showcase (April) and bootcamp (June) will all be held in London, and the RAEng will cover travel and accommodation costs for successful applicants. Flights and accommodation for the Washington summit will also be provided.

Further information on the competition and how to enter can be found here.