Eyes on the prize

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.