By Natalie Mason & Lily Meyer
Kingston University students bagged a majority of the prize money awarded in a national entrepreneurial competition, beating over 240 entrants from five other universities.
The WestFocus Bright Ideas entrepreneurial competition’s award ceremony, held at the University of Westminster, saw Kingston students scoop 13 of the 19 available awards.
Three KU students won top prizes of £1,000 and a further 10 students won runner-up prizes of £250, collectively winning £5,500 of the £10,000 availible.
Touch free medical browsing
PhD student Victoria Bloom won one the £1,000 top prizes for her ‘touch free’ medical browsing idea. The concept uses Xbox 360 Kinect software to allow surgeons to browse medical images without using their hands, saving time and preventing the spread of infection.
Ms Bloom said: “I was surprised to win and get such positive feedback from the judges. I am so grateful I had all this support from Kingston University.”
“They have inspired me to try and make my idea a reality and the money can help me do this.”
Sustainable one-stop shop
Asitha Jayawardena also won a prize for creating the Sustainable University One-stop Shop that offers guidance, information and inspiration for promoting and facilitating sustainability in higher education.
Lucia Froud, Hye J Baek, Laura Anselmi and Yuxin Yang also won £1,000 with their ‘Popcup’, a reinvention of the traditional cup sleeve. With its unique heat sensitive indicator, it helps protect fingers and lips from being burnt by hot drinks.
Martha Mador, Head of Enterprise Education at Kingston University and manager of the WestFocus Entrepreneurship Centre said: “Each year we get more entries and the ideas become better and more diverse.
“They are often demanding and challenging ideas that address genuine needs.”
The competition, now in its eighth year, encourages students from Brunel, Kingston, Royal Holloway, University of West London, Roehampton, St George’s, Westminster, Surrey and Portsmouth to enter their entrepreneurial ideas with the chance to win cash prizes and professional advice.