CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

Ten student innovations that could have a big impact on the world will compete in this year’s Engineers in Business Champion of Champions grand final in November.

Now in its fifth year, the competition – organised by Engineers in Business Fellowship (EIBF) – sees university students showcase their problem-solving innovations to industry experts in a bid to win cash prizes.

This year’s finalists have developed innovations that could change the world of energy, space exploration, healthcare, farming, sport, retail, hospitality and communication.

The event is the culmination of a year of enterprise competitions held across UK universities, with thousands of undergraduate and graduates taking part.

Finalists will now pitch their ideas in a dragons’ den style event at the Royal Academy of Engineering in London on 3 November in a bid to win a share of the £16,000 prize pot.

As well as cash prizes, winners will also receive entrepreneur and business mentoring, CV packages from PurpleCV and innovation books from Cambridge University Press and EIBF President David Falzani MBE.

The ten finalists will compete in two categories – Big Ideas and Startup.

Big Ideas

• EcoSync (University of the Highlands and Islands): A low-cost power factor correction system to improve the power factor of electrical devices, save businesses energy and improve safety.
• Meta Futura Aerospace (University of Southampton): A novel attitude and orbit control system tailored for small satellites launched into space, achieving thrust vectoring with a compliant mechanism.
• RiverFlow (Birmingham City University): a soil monitoring system, with three sensors to detect earthworm movement, water saturation and sub-surface soil temperature.
• Squaser (Lancaster University): A ‘Hawk-Eye’-style system to be used in squash to detect whether a ball has hit certain lines – something previously undetectable.

Startup

• Dot Stores (University of Birmingham): A robotic system used to launch a series of autonomous retail experiences – with the technology picking, packing and delivering ordered items at the touch of a button.
• Global-Anthem (York St John University): An alternative communication system using hand gestures and easy-to-use flash cards to help displaced people communicate more easily.
• PCOSENS (Imperial College London): A wearable sensor that monitors female hormones in real-time to revolutionise care for PCOS (PolyCystic Ovary Syndrome) patients.
• Pipeline Organics (University of Nottingham): A system that uses higher efficiency biofuel cell technology and waste water to deliver renewable electricity to industry.
• Stampede Prevention System (Queen’s University Belfast): An automated system that uses AI-powered flow monitoring and inflatable airbags to ensure safe evacuation of events to save lives.
• SurfaceKeys (Durham University): An immersive and seamless system that allows users to type without the need for a physical keyboard while using extended reality such as virtual reality headsets.

One of the prizes up for grabs is £500 from a pre-event public vote – watch the videos from all our finalists and make your vote count before midnight on 2 November.

This grand final kicks off with a coaching day for finalists on 2 November, where five Sainsbury Management Fellows, all business leaders who benefitted from an MBA scholarship from Engineers in Business Fellowship, will take two teams of finalists under their wings and coach them so they can make a stellar presentation at the awards presentation on 3 November.

David Falzani MBE, President of the Engineers in Business Fellowship said: “We received a record number of entrants into this year’s Champion of Champions Competition, and we had a truly hard job in whittling them down to ten. The creativity, vision and quality of these innovations is deeply impressive and we’re looking forward to hearing more about them during our grand final activities.”