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Elevate – 2024

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University of Exeter’s annual Elevate competition is designed to encourage and support engineers who want to take their ideas from the drawing board to the marketplace. Solo and interdisciplinary teams entered from across the University, with eligible applicants including current and recently graduated engineering and computer science students as individual applicants or teams that contain at least one engineering or computer science student.

First place: Opus Guides

Opas Guides promises to streamline knee replacement surgery with custom 3D printed jig models.

Opas Guides Surgical Jigs give surgeons the opportunity to transform pre-operative planning with physical jigs through an iterative design process, to ensure the outcome required and minimise risk during the operation.

Guides are unique and patient specific, giving surgeons the chance to discuss the operation with their patients beforehand and interact with the CAD models, improving informed consent and ensuring understanding of the process by patients, physiotherapists and family or loved ones. Opas Guides are currently working on jigs for hip replacements with the hope of partnership or a contract with major replacement and resurfacing manufacturers Smith+Nephew and MatOrtho.

Student:

  • Eleanor Griffin – Engineering and Entrepreneurship

Prize awarded: £1,000

Second place: Medi Teddies

Medi Teddies provides customers with anxiety reduction aiding products that implement grounding techniques through sensory stimulation.

Its hero product is a weighted teddy bear with multiple features to help reduce anxiety in primary school, secondary school and university students. There is a growing demand for anxiety reduction products with Medi Teddies using multiple features including, weight, texture, temperature and sound, used within grounding.

Students:

  • Ella Dodson – Engineering and Entrepreneurship
  • Jack Burbridge – Engineering and Entrepreneurship

Prize awarded: £750

Third place: BOOMFA

BOOMFA is a concussion alerting device in the form of a rugby mouth guard.

Initially thinking that a headguard could be created, its founder has found it more feasible to pivot to a simple device insert that bonds to a mouthguard to provide more accurate alerts to any kind of contact or combat sports athlete.

Student:

  • Jack McGwyne – Engineering and Entrepreneurship

Prize awarded: £500

Fourth place: Stocki

Stocki revolutionises in-person shopping with instant access to stock date, price comparisons and reviews.

It enables real-time inventory checks, product comparisons, store navigation, personalised recommendations, and alerts for promotions and deals. Additionally, it supports user reviews and ratings, retail analytics, in-app reservations, shopping lists, and customer support. By integrating these features, Stocki aims to enhance the shopping journey for consumers and provide valuable insights for retailers, making it a comprehensive platform for modern shopping needs.

Student:

  • Adam Brookes – Financial Technology (Computer Science)

Prize awarded: £250

Fifth place: Optex Solutions

Sectors like aerospace suffer huge time and cost delays when different parts are manufactured in massive scale have defects detected at a late stage. Optex Solutions is a visual auditing and inspection software designed to real time detect defects in high value manufacturing and make the auditing of the defects very easy for the quality assessment and helps in quick detection and fixing the defects easier.

Student:

  • Deepak Jha – AI and Data Analytics

Prize awarded: £250

Sixth place: Health Xplain

HealthXplain translates raw data from smart devices into actionable insights for athletes to enhance training.

In an era where smart devices collect abundant health data, few people have the resources to interpret this information effectively. HealthXplain bridges this gap by offering data analytics tailored for athletes, translating raw data into actionable insights for enhanced training.

While numerous health analysis apps cater to individuals with medical conditions, few focus on the health-conscious and athletic population. Healthxplain would connect to applications like Samsung Health, Google Fit and Garmin Connect to effectively spot patterns in data, empowering users to make informed decisions about their health and fitness.

Student:

  • Lorenzo Satta Chiris – Engineering and Entrepreneurship

Prize awarded: £250