NEWS | Student Innovators Win £15,000 to Take Their Innovations A Step Closer to Launch

Back, left to right: Oliver Colebourne (Imperial College London), Christian Toma (University of Southampton), Tamara Ivancova University of (Southampton), Jack Fullerton and Peter Gillan (Queen’s University Belfast), Dinul Wijetunge (University of Greenwich). Front, left to right: Patrick McGuckian, Anaïs Engelmann, Megan Hale and Oscar Jones (Imperial College London).

On 28 October 2022, the charity Engineers in Business Fellowship (EIBF) awarded £15,000 in prizes to engineering student innovators who have developed products that will improve STEM education for young children, transform the personal fitness market, reduce the impact of air conditioning on the environment, make cycling easier and safer and improve technological developments through the use of AI-generated data analysis.

Run by EIBF, the Engineers in Business Champion of Champions Final was hosted at the Royal Academy of Engineering in London. Ten university teams comprising engineering students and graduates pitched an impressive array of business innovations to win a share of the cash prize, mentoring from Sainsbury Management Fellows, professional CV packages from PurpleCV and a popular business entrepreneurial book from Cambridge University Press.

The Champion of Champions Final was hosted by engineer and TV Presenter Rob Bell, who guided contestants through the spotlight of the event. Opening the show Rob said, “I am hugely supportive of Engineers in Business Fellowship for promoting and encouraging engineering students to bring together the two disciplines of engineering and business skills to help future professional engineers commercialise their innovations. Ultimately, this helps to improve the economic performance of UK engineering and sustain the reputation and value of the phrase ‘Engineered in Britain’.”

The finalists competed in two categories – Big Ideas and Start-ups. Each finalist had just six minutes to pitch their idea and then answer challenging questions from the judging panel. After a nail-biting wait for the results, the winners were revealed:

The Enterprise Award of £5,000 was won by Atlas Smart Technologies from Queen’s University Belfast. Atlas Smart Technologies invented the SmartBell, a smartphone-controlled dumbbell, that offers twenty-six weight levels, which can be used in conjunction with Stronger Mobile, a gamified workout tracking app, which turns people’s workout results into fun and shareable workout statistics. The founders and investors of Atlas Smart Technologies are Peter Gillan, Jack Fullerton, Joseph Gillan and James Logan.

Start-up Business – First Prize of £3,000 went to Team Repair from Imperial College London. Team Repair is the first sustainable subscription service teaching children science, technology, and the life skill of repair, by sending them an electronic gadget with carefully planned faults, and all the tools (which they keep) needed to fix it, together with an app to teach them the concepts and repair procedure. The founders of Team Repair are Megan Hale, Anaïs Engelmann, Patrick McGuckian, Megan Hale and Oscar Jones and Oliver Colebourne.

Start-up Business – Runner-up Prize of £1,500 was awarded to AMRSS from the University of Southampton: AMRSS provides AI solutions for real-time aerodynamic performance analysis, to enable engineers within the automotive, aerospace and renewables sectors to improve decision-making throughout the design, test and deployment stages. The founders of AMRSS are Grace Lam and Christian Toma.

Big Ideas – First Prize of £3,000 People’s Vote and Audience Vote Prizes of £1,000 Prizes were awarded to Amara Automotive from the University of Southampton. Amara’s Elecy is a four-wheeled, weatherproof e-bike, offering crash protection, that focuses on minimising emissions during both the production and operation stages, and allows for upgrading rather than replacement. Tamara Ivancova is the founder of Amara Automotive.

Big Ideas – Runner-up Prize of £1,500 was awarded to UMMACH from the University of Greenwich: UMMACH is a low-cost, environmentally friendly, 12V air-conditioning device that can be retrofitted to existing fan units. Dinul Wijetunge founded UMMACH, is working on a patent and has a pre-order of 1,000 units.

The Judging

The Engineers in Business competition is unique in that finalists have a whole day dedicated to preparing them for the finals. This includes in-depth coaching sessions with Sainsbury Management Fellows (SMF).

Head of the Judging Panel, SMF Chris Shelley, Chief Executive Officer, SolarBotanic Trees said: “We had an exceptionally talented group of finalists, and it was very difficult to separate many of the presentations. The improvement in pitches, following their coaching sessions, from the submissions that secured them a place in the final was noticeable in every finalist. We were pleased to see how much they embraced new input from their coaches one day before the final pitches.

“The winners demonstrated that they have a vision and mission, presented sound research, showcased prototypes and a clear route to market. We wish them great success with their business development.”

You can watch the ten teams pitch their innovations here.