Help us celebrate engineering collaboration

Are you involved in a UK-led engineering project with innovation at its core? Are you collaborating with partners from other organisations or research groups to achieve this?

If so, now’s your chance to let the wider world know about your success and get the recognition you deserve, as The Engineer’s tenth annual Collaborate to Innovate (C2I) Awards opens for entries.

C2I was established to uncover and celebrate some of the UK’s most innovative and inspiring examples of engineering collaboration.

Previous winners have included life-saving medical devices, ground-breaking autonomous vehicle projects, key innovations in clean power generation, and disruptive advances in aerospace technology.

The competition is open to any member of a collaborative engineering team. So, whether you’re a major OEM, nimble SME, or academic research group we’d love to hear from you.

As in previous years, entries will be judged by a panel of some of the UK’s leading engineers, and the winners will be announced in Feb 2026 at a special awards party at One Great George Street, London.

We look forward to receiving your entries!

Jon Excell
Editor & Publisher – The Engineer



How to enter & FAQS

You have until Friday 12th September to submit your entries

All entries must be submitted by the entry deadline. Entries will not be considered fully submitted until the entrant proceeds to the final stage and submits their entry. A confirmation email will be received once complete.

Entries may be edited up until the point of 'submission'.

The deadline for entry is Friday 12th September 2025

No, entry into the awards is FREE

The Engineer Collaborate to Innovate Awards are open to any group, whether from academia or industry, that is - or has been - engaged in a successful collaborative engineering project.

The project must represent a collaboration between at least two teams from different organisations; teams may be from, for example, companies, universities or research organisations.

In order to attract entries from an as diverse and cross-disciplinary group as possible entries will be invited from projects which address engineering challenges related to the following broad themes:

- Automotive
- Aerospace & Defence
- Energy & Environment
- Healthcare & Medical ~
- Information, Data & Connectivity
- Manufacturing Technology
- STEM Initiative
- Young Innovator
- Wildcard

For the Young Innovator category we’re primarily looking for innovative projects. Evidence of collaboration is not essential.

Shortlisted projects will meet the following criteria:

- They must be genuinely Innovative (i.e. represent a new technology or a new application of technology
- They must be a true collaboration between 2 or more teams (i.e. not a collaboration between different teams from the same organisation)
- They must have an expected or demonstrable impact in their application area

At least one partner must have a presence in the UK.

Companies may enter more than one category as appropriate.

Unless stated otherwise in category criteria, the awards are judging performance from January 2024 to present; the project may be ongoing or completed within the last 15 months.

The judging panel reserves the right to move entries from one category to another if they feel it is more appropriate. However, they cannot be expected to routinely re-categorise incorrectly entered projects. The judges' decision is final.

Sponsors are not permitted to enter any category that they are sponsoring.

All submissions must be made online through the online entry portal and the requested information must be supplied within the entry form. Any information not provided via the online form will not be passed to the judges.

In all cases, the judges are looking for concise written submissions and your entry should cover as many of the listed criteria as possible.

Please keep the word count within the stipulations per category. Please note that the judging panel reserves the right to penalise entries exceeding the word limit.
Please read the relevant category criteria to establish what type of supporting material should be included.

Digital uploads may take a variety of formats e.g. PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint or jpeg file. Please ensure that uploaded logos, video and any supporting files follow the supporting material guidelines. Please note when uploading supporting material file names must not include any 'special' characters e.g. _ / ( ) & * " and please keep file names short.

Where websites/links form part of an entry, please ensure any URLs, access details, usernames and passwords needed for judging are supplied, that they work, and that they will continue to work until January 2026. Sites that cannot be viewed will be eliminated from the judging.

The events team are not responsible for retaining any supporting material for collection, unless the entrant specifically requests this by email.
Information provided in your entry form (including any supporting information) will be used by the judges to assess your entry.

Should you be shortlisted, the same content may also be published in whole or in part by The Engineer for event coverage.

If any particular information in your entry form is sensitive or not authorised for the public, please contact eventsteam@markallengroup.com with details immediately upon submission of your entry.

All entrants must supply all contact details as requested in the online form for a main point of contact we can approach should the entry require any further clarification.

In the event that your entry is shortlisted, all entry form details e.g. Main Partner name / Collaborating Partner names as completed in the online entry process will be used on Awards collateral (e.g. Website, Awards graphics, Awards Supplement, and in the event that your entry wins, on the trophy). Copy will adhere to the brand’s house style.

Please ensure that the information submitted is accurate and the correct companies are credited as appropriate. We accept no responsibility for any incorrectly submitted information.

Agreement of all parties involved in the project should be secured before entering.

Shortlisted entrants will be contacted once the judging has taken place and invited to attend the 26th February 2026 at One Great George Street in central London.


What do people say about the Collaborate to Innovate awards....?

Collaboration has never been more important in the automotive industry – it’s critical for continued innovation. Being acknowledged by The Engineer, a publication with such a respected and long-standing reputation, and recognised at the  collaborate to Innovate Awards not only validates our engineering achievements, but also helps share CALLUM’s insights and  connect with the engineering community.

Adam Donfrancesco engineering director CALLUM

Collaboration between academia and industry is key to accelerating technological developments and celebrating successful collaborations allows others to appreciate the added value of collaboration For Cement 2 zero, winning a C2I award validates our efforts and collaborative approach for scaling up research into an industrial level. 

Patricio Burdiles Cement 2 Zero

Celebrating a collaborative approach to innovation encourages us to keep pursuing shared objectives which are critical for large projects. We are hugely proud of what we’ve achieved together on DragonFire and massively grateful to The Engineer for  recognising this.

Julie Poynter Team Leader Energy Weapons DSTL

It is an honour for us to receive a Collaborate to Innovate award. The collaboration between our engineers and medical teams was a critical factor in our CADET Project and successfully treating children with severe epilepsy with a new brain stimulator.

Dr Rory Piper Clinical Lecturer in Neurosurgery UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health

Weston College are thrilled to have received the STEM Initiative Award at the C2I Awards, in recognition of our work to inspire the next generation of aerospace engineers. These awards are a fantastic celebration of innovation, bringing together organisations from across the country who share a passion for engineering. It’s a great opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and to be inspired by the incredible projects showcased by fellow attendees. Seeing the impact of these initiatives motivates us even more to continue developing new projects that will spark curiosity and passion in the engineers of tomorrow.

Chloe Broom Marketing Officer - Adult & B2B Weston College

The Engineer’s Collaborate 2 Innovate Awards are a great opportunity to share great engineering made possible by great teams working together. The Awards’ process brought the teams back together to structure the light touch application which allowed us to put the project, and its technology, front and centre and provided us with a stage to tell the wider engineering community of its success. Thanks to the Engineer for its hard work bringing this about.

Neil Taylor Stratospheric Platforms

It’s really heartening to see the amount of innovation that’s going on. This year, I particularly enjoyed the variety and breadth of topics that engineering is being applied to and the innovations that have been made to benefit society across the board.

Abbie Hutty Lead Systems Engineer ispace

As ever it’s great to see the variety of ways that engineers can contribute to solving problems and improving the world we live in.

Alan Newby Director Aerospace Technology & Future Programmes Rolls-Royce plc

Lucideon had a great time at The Engineer C2i awards. It was great to see the development of new technologies across the range of sectors. We are looking forward to seeing the next novel technologies at the next awards ceremony!

Enya Collier Product Marketing Manager Lucideon

Winning a C2I award is an important, independent validation of how AVA has challenged the norms of engineering and construction. We have rethought how passenger bridges and lifts are designed and built. We’re a team of UK SMEs, all with a shared  vision - to collaborate and innovate, in order to achieve better outcomes for public infrastructure and the people who use it. The Engineer C2I awards celebrate that same vision, and AVA is proud to be among the winners.

Darren Falkingham Market Engagement Manager SCX