Rolex Awards for Enterprise (RAE) received a total of 1,659 applications.Launched in 1976, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its pioneering, waterproof Oyster wristwatch, the RAE was initially intended as a one-off event.
However, the initiative garnered so much attention that it was decided to make it a regular, biennial occasion.The idea behind the Awards is to support new or ongoing projects that have the ultimate goal of improving the world that we inhabit.
Applicants must be over 18 to qualify, but no academic or professional qualifications are required. Unusually this gives eligibility to many projects that, although unique in their ambition and scope, would have had limited access to traditional funding and may never have been.
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