Replacement ligaments engineered from the individual’s own bone marrow cells, a non-stick chewing gum that could transform the appearance of Britain’s pavements, image processing techniques that could locate unattended baggage in airports, and Science’s answer to Private Eye are just some of the new business ideas battling it out for the top prize in the University of Bristol’s £30,000 New Enterprise competition.
Null Hypothesis, the Journal of Unlikely Science, is a new monthly journal, produced in-house by some of the University’s leading academics, which casts a wry eye over the world of science and technology presenting satirical and non-satirical articles from many fields. It caters for anyone who’s ever laughed at, or been amazed by, the world around us. Previous articles have included “Toast – why does it fall butter-side down?”, an investigation into the perils of text messaging, and a solution to that age-old conundrum ‘Are jaffa cakes really biscuits?’.
“Null Hypothesis is just one example in a fantastic range of competition entrants” said Dr Ray Crispin, Business Support Manager at Research and Enterprise Development at the University. “We had 69 high quality entrants this year, which is a record, and the judges will have a very tough job picking a winner from the nine finalists. We had business plans from Undergraduates, Post-graduates, Staff and Alumni. Every year the quality improves and every year it is harder to pick a winner.”
“As always we are very grateful for the active support of our sponsors and competition judges,” commented Dr Neil Bradshaw, Director of Enterprise at the University. “Fortis Bank, STMicroelectronics, Deloitte, Osbourne Clarke and Business West contribute not just the prize money for the competition, but invaluable mentoring support to all the finalists throughout the year.”
The 2005 New Enterprise Competition winner will be announced on Tuesday 28 June at the University’s annual Enterprise Dinner. Around 250 guests from across the City will attend the gala dinner in the Wills Memorial Building where the Vice Chancellor, Professor Eric Thomas will present the prize to the winner.