Applications are open for the Royal Academy of Engineering Regional Talent Engines 2025. The Regional Talent Engines is a six-month pre-accelerator programme for early-stage founders in Northern England, Northern Ireland and Wales to transform great ideas into new engineering startups. The programme includes training held in centrallocations in Belfast, Swansea, Leeds, Liverpool and Newcastl e.
About Royal Academy of Engineering Regional Talent Engines
Opportunity Details
The programme is designed to provide you with the practical support you need to help refine your innovation and bring your vision to life. By the end of the programme, you will be ready to seek further support for your new startup or pitch for your first investment to bring your innovation to market.
Benefits of Royal Academy of Engineering Regional Talent Engines
A place on the programme includes:
- an equity-free grant of £20,000 towards living costs
- training workshops, roundtables and speaker events in a location close to you: Belfast, Swansea, Leeds, Liverpool and Newcastle
- one-to-one business coaching and mentoring
- free, lifetime access to their co-working spaces across the UK
Royal Academy of Engineering Regional Talent Engines Requirements
Applicant
- You must be resident in the region that you are applying to take part in the programme, or based in a nearby area, and able to attend training sessions in one of the stated locations within a reasonable travel distance. We cannot accept applicants from the Midlands, the South of England or Scotland for this programme.
- You must have technical understanding in the area of your innovation.
- You must have the right to live and work in the UK and be based in the UK full-time.
- You should normally be an experienced engineer or tech professional (experienced engineer is defined as mid-late career or someone with at least 5 years’ experience working in an engineering or technology environment).
- You must be able to commit time to taking part in the programme full-time from October 2025.
- You must be at least 18 to apply.
- You cannot be in full-time study or employment if accepted onto the programme.
- Previous experience of commercialisation or enterprise is not required.
Innovation
- You must have an innovative engineering or technology-based solution to an identified problem, or market need, that you have been involved in the development of
- Your innovation should be beyond invention stage (Technology Readiness Level 2 or above) with a practical application identified, the concept formulated and the desire to develop a business proposition. If you already have a Minimum Viable Product then you are likely too advanced for this programme
- Your startup should have the potential to be self-sustaining and scalable
- If you have already registered a new business, the innovation should not currently be available to the market other than as a prototype with limited sales
- You must be committed to establishing your new startup in the region where you are applying to take part in the programme or your nearby area
- You should not normally have raised substantial amounts of funding for your innovation, as you will be too advanced for this programme
- They cannot accept applications from individuals wishing to start a consultancy business
- They cannot accept ideas for mobile apps, websites or pure software-based creations unless they are underpinned by an innovative technology, such as AI or machine learning, which you are directly contributing to developing.
Application
- One person per application
- Only one application can be submitted by each individual
- Only individuals can apply to the programme
- Applicants can only re-apply once with the same innovation
Please note, recent university degree graduates (graduated with their first degree since 1 January 2020) or university spinouts are not eligible for this programme.
Application Date and Process
- Click on the link to the application website to get started with your application process.
If you have any questions about the programme or your eligibility, please contact the Programme Team at [email protected].
You can also contact the programme managers directly:
- Sarah Gummer, Senior Programme Manager for Regional Talent Engines: [email protected]
- Lee Gosling, Regional Talent Engines Programme Manager for the North West and Northern Ireland: [email protected]
- Dale Woods, Regional Talent Engines Programme Manager for the North East and Yorkshire and Humber: [email protected]
Application Deadline
06 May, 2025
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Royal Academy of Engineering Regional Talent Engines
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