New Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering seen as a 'game-changer'
26/03/2013 Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)
The first Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering was today awarded to five pioneers of the internet and worldwide web at a ceremony at the Royal Academy of Engineering.Europe's largest body of professional engineers, the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has endorsed the initiative and the joint winners, Sir Tim Berners Lee, Robert Kahn, Vinton Cerf, Louis Pouzin and Marc Andreessen.
IET President, Professor Andy Hopper said: "Mostly importantly to me, this prize is about showing off the best of the best and reminding society that world-changing innovations are so often born inside the minds of engineers. The IET warmly welcomes the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering and congratulates this year's winners. My hope is that this prize will, in the years ahead, become one of the most revered and respected prizes in the world.
"The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering has the potential to be a real game-changer in terms of raising the profile of engineers and engineering. In this country, there is still a general lack of awareness of how engineering underpins people's everyday lives, as well as being a bedrock of the UK economy. This prize is a big step in the right direction to putting that right."
According to the latest research, only 19% of young people between the ages of 12 and 16 know what engineers do. Yet the UK economy needs double the number of recruits entering into engineering by 2020.
The IET, and other organisations, including the Royal Academy of Engineering, are working with many partners to help increase the number of people entering engineering jobs.
For more information, visit www.theiet.org
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