Entries open for £30,000 R&D prize

Announcing the MIAT Prize, Nigel Clarke (pictured), CEO of Morgan Innovation & Technology said: “We know from our own experiences that practical help and support can often be more valuable to an early stage inventor than cash, so we decided the prize should be made up of R&D and manufacturing services to ensure we deliver a tangible benefit to the winner.”

This approach has already garnered the support of Santander and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and entries will be judged by TV presenter Jon Bentley of Gadget Show fame, Andy Wright of Santander and Dr Mike Short, head of Innovation at Telefonica and past President of the IET. Completing the judging panel will be Sue Clarke, Managing Director & James Quest, Technical Director of Morgan Innovation & Technology.

Commenting on his involvement, Jon Bentley said: “I'm excited to help judge an award that fosters innovation and harnesses creativity to generate ground-breaking visionary products.”

Entry to the Morgan Innovation & Technology Prize 2017 is free and open now at http://www.miatprize.co.uk/. The MIAT Prize will be awarded to the entry which satisfies the judging panel that it has real commercial potential to change people’s lives for the better. Entrants must be UK residents. The closing date is 30th September.

Andy Wright, Regional Director for Santander, said: “We have worked closely with our customer Morgan Innovation and Technology for the past two years. As well as providing funding for expansion, Morgan IAT has benefited from being part of our Breakthrough Programme, designed to support SMEs beyond finance. As a result, Nigel has taken part in a number of our Masterclasses and visited Boston with us on an International Trade mission to help provide him with the relevant local contacts overseas and opportunities to connect with them.

“This support extends to connecting him to our extensive networks, including our 81 Santander Partner Universities, our own Incubator Hub, customers and other innovative and entrepreneurial communities and partners we work with in order to promote the MIAT Prize. We are delighted to be involved in the prize which will help foster an innovative environment and ultimately support a great idea to get off the ground.”

Dr Mike Short, CBE, past President of the IET said: “The UK is internationally renowned for its creativity, research and innovation, but there is a worrying gulf between having an idea and bringing it to market. We support Morgan IAT’s new initiative which helps to bridge that gulf and encourage engineering and manufacturing in the UK.”