Eyes on the prize
The winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Prize for Engineering is due to be announced this Spring. The individual who attains this unprecedentedly prestigious prize will be the recipient of £1m: a sum that, whatever else happens, will ensure that the mainstream media will have to focus on the concept of engineering success - at least for a short while.
In March 2012, I wrote that one of the most significant benefits of the Prize was that it would create an association in public perceptions between engineering and financial success. This association, I suggested, would do more to inspire future generations than any high-flown talk about engineering as a vocation.
Since its launch, however, there has been some criticism of the competition. One regular complaint is that - as a global prize open to all - it is likely to be won by a non-Briton and therefore not work to the benefit of UK engineering. Instead, it is argued, a foreign company or individual will walk off with the prestige and the prize, leaving no lasting legacy for the UK.
This seems a myopic argument on a number of levels. First of all, it presupposes that UK engineers will not win the Prize. This supposition ignores the many world-class and highly innovative engineers in this country and does UK engineering a huge disservice.
The more pertinent issue, however, is that merely by offering a reward of this magnitude for engineering success, the Prize will create a legacy that inspires future generations from the UK to aspire to win it themselves.
Only by creating a genuinely prestigious competition and opening it to a truly global base of engineers can the UK really hope to give engineering the value it deserves. Whoever wins this prize - wherever they hail from - will be a deserving recipient of £1m and, as such, an inspirational figure.
