The Universities of Bristol, Bath and the West of England battled it out on Tuesday night in a contest to decide which award-winning business plan from their students and staff most deserves the title of Winner of Winners 2004.
Each year students and staff from the three universities have been eligible to enter their bright ideas for future businesses in individual competitions. Now, for the first time, six prize-winning teams competed for the top title at the Winner of Winners event on 2 November, hosted by one of the event's sponsors, Airbus.
The six teams' ideas ranged from Kiwi Assurance's plan for virtual key cutting to Warm Body's innovative approach to assessing couples' fertility. The judging panel, including main sponsors Business Incubation South West (BISW), South West Angels Investor Network (SWAIN) and Sulis Seedcorn Fund, awarded the £5,000 prize to the LISTech project for their innovative technology for forming metal structures.
The Winner of Winners competition was organised by the consortium of universities to celebrate the enterprise activities they undertake in the region, and to build on collaboration between them.
"All three Universities have been running successful Business Plan competitions for four or five years now, offering cash prizes and valuable advice for entrants on how to build a marketable business plan," said Ed Preedy, of sponsors Business Incubation South West.
He continued: "We are delighted to support this Winner of Winners event which shows the importance of nurturing these enterprising ideas at a regional level and we encourage those with bright ideas to come forward for the next round of individual competitions."
Each of the universities is due to launch their individual competitions for 2005, which are open to staff and students, in mid November.
Bristol University candidates for Winner of Winners Competition 2004:
Global Risk Management: Rob Dover and Anthony Forster
The aim is to provide well-informed reassurance, information and coping strategies to businesses, NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and individuals operating in an increasingly uncertain world. Clients will be able to take personal and business risks with greater certainty and precision, and to solve problems that fall outside the scope of their existing resources.
Warm body (personal female thermometry): Andy Butterworth & Toby Knowles
Many couples have difficulty conceiving, and fertility patterns have changed as couples leave parenthood until later in life. A traditional approach has been to chart the small changes in temperature that occur around the time of ovulation. An innovative product, which evolves and updates this technique, has been developed, providing much more accurate prediction of the time of maximum fertility.
Judges: Ed Preedy (BISW), Philip Tellwright (SWAIN), Roz Bird (UK Science Park Association) and local successful entrepreneurs Pete McCarthy, Dave Embleton and David Cornwell.