NEWS | ENGINEERING GRADUATES FROM QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY BELFAST MAKE IT TO THE FINAL OF THE ENGINEERS IN BUSINESS 2022 INNOVATION COMPETITION

Led by 24-year-old Mechanical Engineering graduate Peter Gillan, a team of graduates from Queen’s University Belfast has secured a place in the final of the Engineers in Business Champion of Champions innovation competition, which will be hosted by TV presenter Rob Bell at the Royal Academy of Engineering on 28 October 2022.

Peter is joined by 24-year-old Computer Science graduate Jack Fullerton, 23-year-old Software Development graduate Joseph Gillan, and 24-year-old Mechanical Engineering graduate James Logan, all of whom are co-founders of Atlas Smart Technologies which has developed the world’s leading smartphone-controlled dumbbell, the SmartBell. Peter will be pitching his team’s innovation against nine other teams of student and graduate innovators in the national final. A sum of £15,000 is up for grabs, providing vital seed money to help the winners develop their innovation. The winners will also receive mentoring from business leaders who are members of the Sainsbury Management Fellows (SMF) network, plus CV packages from PurpleCV and entrepreneurial books from Cambridge University Press.

The competition is organised by the registered charity, Engineers in Business Fellowship which champions business education for engineers and supports universities by giving them grants to award prizes to engineering students who develop ideas that can make a positive impact on society. The grants enable universities to inspire more engineering and technology students to participate in innovation and entrepreneurship, skills that they take into their careers.

The SmartBell smartphone-controlled dumbell offers users twenty-six weight levels, ten more than the current market leader. Users simply place the dumbbell into a cradle and the weight level can be adjusted with an innovative 1kg weight resolution. Alongside this, the company has developed Stronger Mobile, a gamified workout tracking app.

Explaining the concept behind SmartBell and Stronger, Peter comments, “Have you ever looked at a Peloton bike and thought, why isn’t there a product like that for building strength? We developed the solution, SmartBell.

“Alongside this is the Stronger Mobile app which turns users’ workout data into fun and shareable statistics, such as telling users how many ‘rhinos’ they’ve lifted in a week or that they deadlifted ten spider monkeys! Stronger is the only app to do this, and people love it. In just ten weeks, over 30,000 people have already downloaded the app. Stronger and the SmartBell combine for a full personal training experience.”

The Engineers in Business competition is designed to inspire engineers to study business and innovation explains Peter saying, “It’s important that the products and innovations we work on help improve people’s lives. Without business skills, we won’t know what products are needed. I truly believe that business skills develop this awareness and help make us better engineers.”

The dragons’ den style competition will be compered by TV presenter, Rob Bell. Competing against nine other teams, Peter Gillan will have six minutes to convince the judges, through his presentation and Q&A session, that his team should be crowned a Champion of Champions and take home a cash prize. Amongst other criteria, the judges will be assessing the ingenuity of SmartBell and its potential benefits to users.

The members of the judging panel are:

SMF Caroline Cake, Entrepreneur in Residence at Oxford Science Enterprises

Dr Terri Holloway, Ingenuity Lab Manager, Entrepreneur in Residence, University of Nottingham

SMF Kwok Ng, Strategy Programme Manager, The Crown Estate

SMF Chris Shelley, Chief Executive Officer, SolarBotanic Trees

Commenting on reaching the Engineers in Business Champion of Champions Final, Peter said, “The Competition allows us to show our innovation off to the world. This process helps us to receive valuable feedback on how we can improve and continue to iterate upon our designs and provides the perfect platform to establish the business moving forward.”

Peter will be competing for an Engineers in Business Champion of Champions title against nine other teams from Imperial College London, University of Birmingham (two finalists), University of Oxford, University of Southampton (two finalists), Lancaster University, University of Nottingham, and The University of Greenwich.