Researcher to Innovator – 2024
Back to Competitions | The Researcher to Innovator programme at The University of Manchester aims to inspire and accelerate the translation of the knowledge created through final year undergraduates, postgraduates and early career research projects into products, services or processes to deliver tangible benefit through a series of bespoke workshops and mentoring opportunities. Workshops help students and researchers articulate their science and engineering ideas by taking them through a lean start-up technology pathway to explore the potential of their idea, culminating in them pitching their idea in Dragons Den style for the opportunity to win cash Innovation Awards plus expert mentor support and onward access to places on regional and national accelerator programmes, for example iCURE or the Alderley Park Accelerator. |
First place: NeuWave Ltd
NeuWave Technologies help maritime industries get smarter about wave heights, with modelling technology they have been working on throughout PhD studies. The technology can provide far more granular data than is available today, around wave heights and how these are varying in response to the weather. These data are helping energy companies plan their work in wind farms and operating shipping companies months in advance with more accuracy.
Student:
- Jana Stella – Environmental Engineering
Prize awarded: £3,000
Positive feedback
It was a real privilege to see the progress every participant has made throughout their Researcher to Innovator journey over the 12 weeks of the programme. The programme not only encourages and supports researchers to consider the commercial potential of their research but also develops entrepreneurial mind-sets, confidence, commercial awareness and resilience. The pitch day is always inspiring, and it was a thrill to see fundamental research ideas being shaped into viable business propositions to deliver tangible commercial impact.
Professor Aline Miller
Associate Dean for Business Engagement and Innovation, The Faculty of Science and Engineering
The University of Manchester