Hey guys,

I will probably be finishing my Master degrees in Business Engineering and Energy Science and Engineering at the beginning of next year. I have an idea for a technology in a field which is a hybrid between civil engineering and mechanical engineering I would like to pursue via a PhD. In Germany it usually isn't possible to approach a professor with an idea of your own. What is the situation in the anglosphere?
If it is possible to submit an own idea what should I be looking for with universities to apply for a PhD?

Thank you in advance for your help.

You can approach potential supervisors in the UK with project ideas, but it's unlikely a supervisor will have funding and so they would then have to apply on your behalf which could take years. You could give it a go and see what happens.

Alternatively you could apply for a funded PhD in a similar area and then apply for a fellowship yourself for your idea after finishing the PhD.

Thanks for the informative answer!
I came across a PhD program which my idea fits into. (http://cee.umich.edu/research/systems energy harvesting)
I might not be looking correctly but I can't see any specific projects being advertised for PhD students. Is it a realistic option to research universities, which have a somewhat similar interest and then just submit my idea/proposal or would I usually first contact the university staff and ask for specific topics?

You can contact the relevant person with your CV and project idea and see what happens. It's possible they have funding lying around, although I don't personally know anyone that has got a PhD this way. I've seen projects advertised and then they get 2 good applicants they like and employ both and find funding from somewhere for the other though. Then one of the people does a different project.

Google how to approach people in this way, as there's lots of information about how to do it appropriately. You will often find that you will fall at the first hurdle when they ask you if you have funding and you say no, though. The steer from my university at the moment is to accept all applicants that are academically fine, and then let them worry about how to get funding. Current thoughts are that this will just push up acceptances but not people starting PhDs, because options for funding are limited.

It's better to contact them with your idea though, rather than asking them for their specific topics, because if you do that they think you don't have ideas of your own.

This is what I did as well.
The downside is that after 3.5 years of taking direction in terms of overall objectives(although working largely in isolation to expand and then achieve them), there is a danger that you don't develop the skill of seeking out your own questions and creating your own big ideas.
That is a problem I now face right at the end of my funding.
Literally 3 minutes after formally submitting my thesis on Wednesday I stood outside in the rain to take in the wave of euphoria and relief and suddenly realised I hadn't a clue what big ideas I wanted to submit to a fellowship committee.
It seems that great age doesn't necessarily bring either great commonsense or the ability to control a wave of panic :-D
Still it was nice to get 3 whole undisturbed minutes of bliss.

Definitely. It's really hard to come up with ideas. It's also frustrating when you finally think of things to do but have no funding and then someone else beats you to it!

I find it helpful to be free of stress when I am thinking of ideas. I also found it doesnt help to rush the process either. Both stressing and rushing caused me lots of problems. Not easy when bils need paid though.

I already have the idea and I am doing some preliminary work on it in my master thesis. I don't really intend to stay in academia after the PhD. Best case scenario - even if this is not the most realistic - I manage to develop my idea where I actually have a patentable prototype, during the PhD. Worst case I have nothing and wasted years of my life.

Does anyone of you know how the onwership rights for IP you developed during your PhD?

I looked up a couple of funding sources concerning the university I posted, but quite a bit of the made requirements I can't fulfill being a white male from Europe. I think TreeofLife already mentioned a number of funding sources, but they seem to be exclusively for the UK. Do you know any more?