Electronics Weekly, in partnership with RS Components, is seeking to highlight the brightest and most talented young electronic engineers in the UK today. Pictured above is the class of 2017, receiving their awards at the Houses of Parliament.

We will again be looking for the young engineers who are already making a difference in the first years of their working life, or who are still studying but are showing the promise to become the people behind big future innovations in electronics.

It’s a short form to fill in, but please supply the details requested – challenges faced, problems overcome, etc – to help the judges assess the entries.

Inspiring the industry

Why are we doing this? Electronics Weekly and RS believe that by celebrating the achievements of the most talented young people in the electronics world, we can play a significant role in inspiring and encouraging new entrants to the industry. This is particularly important in the context of the industry’s well-publicised skills gap and the efforts of the UK government and other organisations to encourage greater take-up in schools and universities of STEM and engineering-related subjects.

EW BrightSparks will also serve – we hope – to inspire other newcomers to the sector or those interested in a career in electronics.

We are looking for engineers under the age of 30 who are working or studying in the UK – so those who are still in the early stages of their career and who will be the people shaping UK electronics in the years to come.

Stay tuned for more information about the programme, such as the date submissions can be made and details of the 2018 judging panel.

Class of 2017

Here is the full list of 2017 EW BrightSparks, the Design Engineers of Tomorrow:

• John Alton, Lascar Electronics
• Chelsea Back, AB Open
• Robert Blenkinsopp, Ultrahaptics
• Josh Boakes, Convert
• Josh Bowen, He-Man Dual Controls Ltd
• Daniele Capocci, Nissan Technical Centre Europe
• Shuran Chen, Self-employed
• Saloni Chhabra, Cadence Design Systems
• Andrew Cowan, Cobham Antenna Systems
• Alex Croucher, GB Electronics (UK)
• Sherzaad Dinah, Nissan Technical Centre Europe
• Ryan Dunwoody, Pi-Top
• Josh Elijah, Engimake
• Calum Finn, Nestle
• Benjamin Fitzpatrick, Dyson
• Rob Green, Loughborough University
• Daniel Harryman, Science and Technology Facilities Council
• James Hayman, Ametek
• Keno Mario-Ghae, Imagination Technologies
• Jacob Marsh, ModMyPi
• Emilio Mistretta, University of Hertfordshire
• Edward Nutting, University of Bristol
• Lewis Osborne, JME
• Sam Presley, University of Southampton / Dyson
• Chris Shaw, Sensible Objects
• Robert Smith, Plextek RFI
• Roger Thornton, Raspberry Pi Organisation
• Matt Timmons-Brown, The Raspberry Pi Guy
• Tim Wiles, Peratech

A photo shoot and networking event took place in May as part of the 2017 awards dinner – the prestigious venue was the Palace of Westminster. We then publicly announced the 2017 EW BrightSparks with a special print supplement in Electronics Weekly magazine on 24 May 2017.

We have also released and highlighted profiles of the individual BrightSparks of 2017 online (see above for the full set of links). See also: www.electronicsweekly.com/ew-brightsparks/