The Dragons' Den

The University of York’s Business Innovation & Entrepreneurship course provides broad coverage of what’s involved in the exploitation of technologies through innovation and entrepreneurship. It is a practical introduction to the creation and development of enterprises that generate and sustain value from ideas, inventions and opportunities. The broad aims of the course are to (a) develop an awareness of, and interest in, business innovation and entrepreneurship, (b) introduce participants to the factors involved in taking new technology to market, (c) enhance employability through greater business awareness and confidence, (d) encourages students to explore ambitions around launching or joining early-stage businesses and develop students’ potential to become job creators. The course incorporates the Dragons’ Den competition.

First Prize Winner: Vidgit

Project:

The winning team is pictured in the video on the presentation screen – left is Vanessa Ndiangang and (right) Leyi Ye – both are Computer Science students – £1,500 Engineers in Business prize. The line up below are (left to right) Alice Ingram, Business Development Manager of WNY Chambers of Commerce; Leyi Ye, Computer Science Student; Sam Gardner, Director at Enterprise Works; Heather Niven Course Lead at the University of York, Bethany Watrous, CEO Experience Heritage.

Vidgit is a technology solution which uses camera technology attached to the users’ glasses linked to an app via Bluetooth, which allows visually impaired people to go shopping on their own. The tech scans the bar codes of the products as well as using OCR technology to determine the ingredients of hard-to-read labels and feeds this back via an audio loop to the user. The app can be personalised to identify allergies, V signs for vegetarians and vegans, gluten-free products etc. saving the user time when shopping.

Awarded: £1,500

Second Prize Winner: Exploria

Project:

The Exploria team comprises Postgraduate Students from the Business and Enterprise of Interactive Media (BEIM) course. Pictured front row are (from left) Kirsty Smith, Thelma Osorio Euan, Jessica Hurdle, Emily Youngson and Heather Niven Course Lead at the University of York – £1,000 Engineers in Business prize. Pictured in the back row are Alice Ingram WNY Chamber of Commerce (Back); Sam Gardner, Director of Enterprise Works and Bethany Watrous, CEO of Experience Heritage.

Exploria is an app-based adventure using AR and geolocation technologies to enable residents and visitors in a city to explore the heritage and history and stories of the place in a new and innovative way. Using Niantic Lightship technology their app bundle provides experiences in cities across the UK and the world (starting with York) which can be downloaded as bundles on the app. These can be downloaded for less than £10 and can be experienced individually or as a group.

Awarded: £1,000

Third Prize Winner: CosPlay Hub

Project:

The CosPlay team members are all Business and Enterprise of Interactive Media (BEIM) students.  Pictured in the back row is Cosplay team member Ania Kuska (BIEM) with Alice Ingram, WNY Chamber of Commerce, Sam Gardner, Director of Enterprise Works and Bethany Watrous CEO, Experience Heritage.  In the front row are prize winner Kristy Chu, Heather Niven, Course Lead at the University of York and prize winner Ziqi Fang.  The team won a £500 Engineers in Business prize.

CosPlay is a ‘Fablab’ for Cosplayers, providing a space and community place for CosPlayers to get together and share experiences and make their outfits. The space provides 3D printing facilities, a photo studio and advanced manufacturing equipment and can be booked using a ‘gym membership system’. The physical space is complemented by an online platform, podcasts and workshops to support the community.

Awarded: £500

Highly Commended: SeeSaw

Project:

The SeeSaw team were Highly Commended are all computer science students. In the back row left to right are students Robbie Parr and Stephen Ingham with Alice Ingram, WNY Chambers of Commerce; student Joe Silva; Sam Gardner, Director of Enterprise Works and Bethany Watrous, CEO, Experience Heritage.  In the front row are the remaining highly commended team members George Jopson and Sammy Hori with Heather Niven Course Lead at the University of York.

SeeSaw is a social media platform providing balanced and moderated news to its users. As a CIC model, they aim to reduce the extremist nature of social media platforms by providing curated balanced views of current news items allowing its users to see both sides of every issue.

Positive feedback

All participating students in the EIBF York competition have undergone a 10-week module on business innovation & entrepreneurship. This included practice pitching and feedback for five of those weeks.

The EIBF prize challenged students to stretch to a further degree of professionalism in the development and pitching of their business ideas. The stimulus of the prize money and the further opportunities offered by the scheme galvanised students competitively to perform at a level that seriously impressed all who attended the event, including the dragons and myself.

The Dragons recommended that four of the teams enter the EIBF Champion of Champions Competition 2023 and commented that this was a year of high quality business ideas.

Heather Niven
Business and Innovation Consultant
University of York