Surrey Electrical and Electronic Engineers in Business Competition

The University of Surrey’s Enterprise Project embraces the Surrey Electrical and Electronic Engineers in Business Competition. The Enterprise Project is a year-long group project carried out by second-year students from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Surrey. Students work in groups to create innovative concepts relating to the Information Communications Technology, Electronics and Computing sectors that have the potential for commercialisation. The project offers an opportunity for the students to enhance their business awareness, build entrepreneurial skills and develop transferable skills such as team working, project management, presentation, negotiation and leadership. In the final stage of the project, each group produces a business plan report and pitches their concept to a multi-disciplinary panel of judges from industry and academia during a Dragon’s Den event. The competition provides seed funds for the winning team to further develop their business concept.

First Prize Winner: Ecostep

Project:

The Ecostep team comprises Toby Pollington, Henry Clarke, Jack Connolly, Ellis M Green, Ollie Cory, Dillan Mercer, Aikaterini Papakosta and David M Patyke, all of whom are undergraduate Electronic & Electrical Engineering Students – £1,500 Engineers in Business prize

Ecostep will manufacture piezoelectric power producing panels (PPPP) which provide a novel solution to green energy production by converting the energy of footsteps into useable power. The floor panels can be installed in a wide range of configurations to meet the needs of the customer due to their modular design. Each panel houses an array of piezoelectric generators which convert mechanical stress into electrical energy. Once installed the power produced from all the panels can be stored in batteries, used for LED lighting, or used as an alternative power source for other devices. Also, data can be collected from the panels which can be sold on to the customer to be used to better their business practices.

The team line in the photo is: Toby Pollington, Henry Clarke, Jack Connolly, Ellis M Green, Ollie Cory, Dillan Mercer, Aikaterini Papakosta and David M Patyk

Awarded: £1,500

Second Prize Winner: ALES

Project:

The ALES team comprises Imtiyaz Ahmed, Zein Alsade, Joseph Amphlett, Erion Gkioka, Wren, Hayley Wren, Osman Ugurtas, Pablo Perez Andonegui and Joseph Long – all are Electronic & Electrical Engineering Undergraduates – £1,000 Engineers in Business prize

The ALES’ team is aiming to make education accessible for everyone. The software will enable hearing impaired students, neurodiverse students and those with English as a second language to have complex technical and mathematical terminology presented visually. Engineering is amongst the disciplines that include spoken maths and equations in university lectures, and ALES software transcribes – and solves – these complex words which are often hard to lip-read or note down accurately. It presents an accurate dictation on screen, in real-time. ALES offers life-changing accessibility to technical subjects, improving the student experience; ensuring bright minds are not limited in what they can achieve!

Awarded: £1,000

Third Prize Winner: Electro-tyre

Project:

The Electro-tyre team comprises Jared Zaphet, Tom Underhill, Josh Newell, Orkan Eryasar, Kacper Harasim, and Isaac Baglin – all are Electronic & Electrical Engineering Undergraduates – £500 Engineers in Business Prize

Electro-tyre is working on charging the future through innovative battery technology and ‘driving’ toward environmental sustainability.

Awarded: £500

Positive feedback

This year we saw the best range and highest quality of applicants ever in our enterprise project and Engineers in Business Competition. Engineering students are becoming smarter, more worldly and equipped for their future, with entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial skills fostered through the EIBC. Huge thanks once again for offering tangible rewards of mentorship and cash prizes to value the efforts of our students! This year’s face-to-face format for the end competition was hugely valuable and incredibly impressive, with students gaining new soft skills that have been underdeveloped due to covid online teaching and learning practices.

Kat Mack
Student Enterprise Manager
University of Surrey

 

The competition provides a fantastic opportunity for our students within the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering to develop their entrepreneurial skills. Having the support from the EIBC has been invaluable in providing some additional motivation for our students, creating some recognition for their achievements and opening up opportunities to take their business concepts further

Jean-Yves Guillemaut
Senior Lecturer
Three-Dimensional Computer Vision
University of Surrey