The five-year Sports Innovation Challenge is funded by Rio Tinto, who are the official Precious Metal Providers of the London 2012 Paralympics. The initiative aims to harness the creativity of Imperial’s Faculty of Engineering students in order to make sport more accessible to people with disabilities.

Rio Tinto will provide a mentoring programme for selected students, giving them the opportunity to work with some of the world’s leading engineers. The challenge was launched by Paralympic Javelin thrower Scott Moorhouse, wheelchair athlete Dan Lucker and paratriathlete Jimmy Goddard on Thursday 8th December.

Imperial’s lead organiser of the challenge, Professor Anthony Bull said: "The challenge is the symbolic start of what has the potential to be an absolutely fantastic and fun learning experience for students.

“Apart from being a great way to learn about engineering, we believe that by harnessing the talents of Imperial students, they will be able to come up with innovative ways to improve the sporting performance of Paralympians and enhance the quality of life for those with disabilities."

As part of the project, teams from the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Bioengineering, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Electronic Engineering will be encouraged to interact with one another, sharing their ideas, knowledge and developing leadership and team skills.

They will be joined by postgraduates studying for the MSc in Innovation Design Engineering, which is run jointly between Imperial and the Royal College of Art. Students will develop prototype technologies, manage their design project, write reports, create presentations and make log books.

They will also have the opportunity to take part in summer projects and enter a Dragon’s Den style competition, where their inventions will be judged by a panel of experts, with financial incentives for winning teams.

Joanna McKenzie, principle adviser from Rio Tinto, said: "We are delighted to be working with our long term partners at Imperial College to give students the exciting opportunity to come up with innovative designs and the chance to work with inspirational athletes from the Paralympic sporting arena."

Professor Jeff Magee, Principal of the Faculty of Engineering, added: "The challenge builds on our very strong relationship with Rio Tinto. It is absolutely vital that institutions like ours work closely with the industry on innovative projects, so that we can foster the types of skills that the industry needs from graduates.

“The UK is crying out for more skilled engineers and I commend Professor Bull, his colleague Professor Jan Cilliers, their colleagues, and our friends at Rio Tinto for developing a project that could have a real impact on people’s lives. The work from this project could help more people with disabilities to compete in sports, which is an excellent goal."

By Stuart Appleby