Last week was the first annual British Engineering Excellence Awards, a celebration of all aspects of engineering, and an opportunity for UK companies to showcase to the world that the UK still has a very strong engineering sector. The event was organised by New Electronics, in association with many of the leading names within the British engineering environment, including element14.
element14 sponsored the Design Engineer of the Year award. Entrants for this category had to be nominated by another person. In order to be
successful it was necessary to demonstrate the engineers ability to produce innovative designs with transferable technology within strict commercial limits. The nominees for the award were Karl Craik of Hardy & Grey’s, Barrie Pegrum of Sector Associates, Mark Sanders of MAS Design Products and Dr. Robin Taylor of Lein Applied Diagnostics.
The competition in this category was so high that the judges felt it necessary to award a highly commended to Dr Robin Taylor (right) who has been developing a prototype device for monitoring blood glucose levels through a patient’s eye. Primarily designed for diabetes patients, the technology has many uses including ophthalmic and industrial applications.
The winner of the award was Mark Sanders from MAS Design Product Ltd (www.mas-design.com). Mark is a true leader in his field, with more than 20 patents around the world identifying him as inventor – including a no spill cutting board, a folding bike design and one-touch automatic can and jar openers. Mark (left) has sold millions of products to consumers in the UK and around the world. The judges said of Mark, “He has the engineering excellence we were looking for, undertaking high quality and valuable design work, with involvement within the education sector.” In addition to his engineering work, Mark also teaches a seminar once a term at Imperial College and the Royal College of Art, sharing his enthusiasm and experience in developing many real world products with the engineers of the future. The judges felt that Mark “has products on the market, which shows he is successful, and the variety of projects on which he has worked and their quality demonstrates a clear winner.”
Congratulations to Mark, Robin and all of the nominees in the Design Engineer of the Year.