A 24-year-old kitesurfer from Cumbria has joined Isambard Kingdom Brunel, George Stephenson and Sir Frank Whittle in Britain’s engineering Hall of Fame for his pioneering work on wave energy.

Sam Etherington, who is still seeking about £150,000 to develop his wave-power invention, beat off stiff competition from Sir James Dyson and the Apple designer Sir Jonathan Ive.

Semta, the UK engineering body that represents 128,000 companies across the country, launched the one-off award this year to celebrate Britain’s modern engineering talent.