The Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award is the premier prize for UK innovation in engineering. It seeks to demonstrate the importance of engineering and the role of engineers and scientists in contributing to national prosperity and international prestige. It is awarded annually for an outstanding example of innovation and benefit to the community, which has also achieved commercial success. The award honours the winning company with a gold medal and the team members with a prize of £50,000. The Engineers Trust is supporting the Award with £20,000 annually for 10 years.

Selected by a judging panel of esteemed engineering experts, the 2022 MacRobert Award winner is:

  • Quanta Dialysis Technologies for creating a compact and portable dialysis machine, allowing more flexible and accessible care for patients with renal failure.

Originally developed to reconstitute orange juice from concentrate, Quanta’s innovative disposable fluid cartridge system was repurposed for use in a compact haemodialysis machine. Simpler to operate, yet as powerful as traditional dialysis machines, Quanta’s SC+ haemodialysis system was designed to bring dialysis directly to the patient, allowing patients to treat themselves at home, rather than spending hours a week at healthcare facilities. It marks the first major advance in dialysis technology in decades and is already used by several NHS Trusts. During the pandemic, Quanta donated its entire stock of dialysers to the NHS to help relieve some of the pressure in hospitals and clinics. The innovation is already FDA-approved and stands to be a global leader in the industry, which is projected to exceed $12bn in the US alone. 

Team: 

  • John Milad, CEO
  • Professor Clive Buckberry FREng, Chief Engineer and Technology Officer
  • Keith Heyes, Systems Engineering Director & Original Inventor
  • Mark Wallace, Lead Innovations Engineer
  • David Spurling, Lead Architect (Mechanical Engineering)
  • Maddy Warren, Strategic Dialysis Advisor and Community Engagement Consultant

The 2022 MacRobert Award finalists are:

  • Intelligent Growth Solutions for helping to de-risk an agriculture sector that’s facing an ageing farming population and an uncertain, volatile future.
  • Oxford Instruments for developing the Symmetry detector that integrates with scanning electron microscopes and dramatically increases the speed, sensitivity and resolution of analysis that is possible.

Royal Academy of Engineering Press Release:

The Worshipful Company of Engineers Charitable Trust (the Engineers Trust) acknowledges excellence in engineering, supports engineering education and research, gives grants and assists in the relief of poverty.