EW BrightSparks 2023 Unveiled as Elektra Awards Winners

At the prestigious Elektra Awards last night, the EW BrightSparks of 2023 were announced, highlighting some of the best young electronics engineers in the UK.

Now in its sixth year, the EW BrightSparks programme has been looking for the engineers – aged 30 or under – who are already making a difference in the UK in the first years of their careers, or those who are still studying in the UK but showing the promise to become the innovators and leaders in electronics in the years to come. We were particularly keen to hear from those who also found the time to participate in STEM activities and help wider communities.

For 2023, we had a lot of entries, and the standard seemed higher than ever, so the cohort to represent this year is certainly is a very impressive group.

The winners were selected by the Electronics Weekly editorial team, lead by Clive Couldwell, the Group-Editor. And then a range of industry figures also shared their views for a wider context, for example (alphabetically), Stewart Edmondson (UKESF, CEO), Karen Holland (XCAM, CEO), Ash Madni (Madni Technologies, MD) Director) and Gavin Woodruff (Education Manager, IET).

Steward Edmondson, for example, hailed some "outstanding candidates" and "really impressive submissions". And Karen Holland also described the entries as "outstanding". For his part, Ash Madni said it was "lovely to see young people excelling at their work". And Gavin Woodruff hailed the "strong field of applicants". Their more detailed input on the individual entries will be included when we write up the full profiles.

The full list of the winners can be found below (again, alphabetically), along with just a few brief highlights. Full profiles will appear, as mentioned, in due course, both in the Electronics Weekly magazine and online, including individual comments from the industry experts. Stay tuned!

Finally, thank you to all who entered, and those who took the time to nominate others. And thank you, too, to the industry experts who kindly added their voices.

We hope an enjoyable night was had by all at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane!

Industry Experts

• Stewart Edmondson - CEO of the UK Electronics Skills Foundation and a Visiting Professor at Aston University.
• Karen Holland - CEO of XCAM, a UK-based growing SME which designs, develops and manufactures customised digital cameras for a range of scientific, industrial and space applications.
• Gavin Woodruff - Education Manager at the IET, dedicated to inspiring the next generation to pursue a career in STEM.
• Ash Madni - A veteran of 37 years in the Analog Integrated Circuit Design industry, contributing to the rapidly changing world of microelectronics.

EW BrightSparks Cohort of 2024

Here is the EW BrightSparks cohort of 2024:

More details about EW BrightSparks can be found at electronicsweekly.com/brightsparks

Why are we doing this?

Electronics Weekly believed 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.