Starting with an intensive market assessment skills course and culminating in a live pitch to investors reminiscent of Dragons’ Den, students assessed the commercial viability of ideas presented by senior students, academics and external entrepreneurs, and developed the proposals into short business plans which were then pitched at the live final event.

The winners of the competition were AlboTherm Glass, who developed a thermo-responsive polymer system into a passive temperature regulation system for commercial greenhouses. Their proposal so impressed the judges that the chair of the panel, Keith MacDonald (pictured centre) has offered to help in its development from pitch to product, while the second-place team Indigo are exploring the options to launch their wheelchair accessibility-mapping software system towards the end of 2018.

Designed as a first step in the PhD students’ commercial skills training and integrating with the Scientific Entrepreneur Experience run in conjunction with the Bristol Consulting Partnership, the Business Bootcamp course forms a part of the BCFN’s internationally-recognised skills training over its PhD students’ four-year tenure. For more information, please contact bcfn-info@bristol.ac.uk.