IET Innovation Awards – why enter?
EVERYONE likes to be recognised and business awards are a great way to raise the profile of your business, yourself and your product, not just for winners, but for all shortlisted entries.
The positive ripple effect of continued exposure and association with high profile awards has long been recognised.
But what makes The Institute of Engineering and Technology Innovation Awards stand out is the fact that they are judged and reviewed by scientists and engineers. This means that to be in with a chance of being short listed your idea and development must demonstrate technical excellence. It also sets it apart in the event that your idea does reach the final cut.
The IET Innovation Award judges are all still involved in the engineering industries and have developed a keen understanding of how technology can help propel simple ideas into mass market appeal. They are looking for practical solutions to real world problems using innovation. That means how can your idea make a meaningful impact on the lives of ordinary people.
So, what difference does being short listed to winning an IET Innovation Award make?
Everyone who enters tells us that applying for these awards made them critically analyse their own idea and its development. They looked closely at the rationale, asked themselves very pointed questions to ensure that they were answering problems facing people in their everyday lives or breaking new ground.
It also made them step up to the mark in terms of providing scientifically credible detail, real evidence that their idea made a difference and an explanation that was clear and concise.
But an invention is often just one part of the improvement story. Some products or services have multiple applications across diverse sectors. For example, one invention was a water desalination system. Given that 20 per cent of the world’s population doesn’t have access to clean water yet 98% of the earth’s surface is covered by sea, river or ocean it makes sense to clean it up and make it drinkable. The inventors created a domestic system that they submitted to the IET Innovation Awards. The inventors, who developed the prototype while living in India have gone on to create a community version that can desalinate water for larger communities and help them feed themselves and their livestock viably.
Once submitted being short listed helped give all the applicants credibility that they were recognised by their scientific and engineering peers and made people take a closer look at all their work. Some have also reported that it made it easier for them to attract backing to move their invention to the next level of development and ultimately see it become commercially available.
So if you’re hesitating about applying, don’t. Collect your thoughts about your invention, clearly and concisely write it down and then submit it to start your journey of a lifetime.