Mentor registration for the 1K Challenge is now CLOSED! Best of luck to all 1K participants!

We are pleased to confirm that our 1K competition judges Dr Mike Arnott and Dr Martin Clark will  be speaking at our 1K Training Session next Wednesday about what they want to see in the 1K executive summary competition. Their talks will be followed by a short IP primer from Martin Lipscombe and surgeries with the CUE mentors, covering topics including Market research, Finance, Intellectual Property, and Legal— basically everything you need to know at this stage of the competition!

So please join us next Wednesday (28/11) at 6:30PM, in Lecture Room 4 of the Engineering Department.

Registration here.

Pizza and drinks will be provided.

See you there!

We hope you enjoyed our Co-founder Speed Dating event and all the SVc2UK activities. The second half of November is also packed with interesting events for all you budding entrepreneurs!

21/11 6PM My First Million: Your chance to be a Dragon

27/11 8PM Enterprise Tuesday: CUE Discussion Group with Dr Tony Raven- Successful Entrepreneurship: Luck or Hard Work?

28/11 6:30PM CUE 1K Training Session

Please see below for details and don’t forget to register- places are limited!

My First Million: Your chance to be a Dragon

21/11 6PM, LR4 Engineering Dept.

With the Dragon’s Den MyFirstMillion software from Dialectyx, participants will get to try their hands at being on the opposite side of the investment table and play the roles of Dragons. You will view actual pitches from Dragon’s Den, decide on which companies you want to invest in, find out what the Dragon’s decided, and learn the fate of the companies after several years of operations.

Through this, participants will get a feel of the key points that investors consider, and will be able to better structure their own business plans to target these points. In addition, the team who makes the most prudent investments with the greatest returns will stand to win attractive prizes!

Pizzas and drinks will be provided.

Enterprise Tuesday: CUE Discussion Group with Dr Tony Raven

27/11 8PM (after the lecture), Board Room of Eng. Dept. (2nd Floor)

“Luck or Hard Work? Which is more important for a successful entrepreneur?“.

Led by the CEO of Coventry Enterprise, Dr Tony Raven, we will be discussing the key aspects of exploiting a business idea and the roles that serendipity and sheer hard work have to play during the commercialisation process.

Tony brings with him a wealth of experience, both as an entrepreneur and a consultant. Apart from his current role, he was the founder of Summit Technology, the market leader in laser refractive surgery, co-founder of Sagentia Group, a technical and management consultancy listed on the London Stock Exchange, and founder of Diomed Inc, world-leader in therapeutic medical diode lasers. He also played a role as Director of Research and Innovation Services at the University of Southampton.

We will also be making a special note of the role of the CUE business plan one of the most successful business plan competitions in the world where free training courses and mentoring are provided just to help you turn your idea into reality -  all within less than a year!

Refreshments will be provided.

CUE 1K Training Session

28/11 6:30PM, LR4, Eng. Dept.

To enter the competition you must submit a 1500 word Executive Summary by the 20th of January. This training session will help you write the best possible entry.

Two of our competition judges will talk about what they want to see in the 1K business creation competition, followed by surgeries with CUE mentors, covering topics including Market research, Finance, Intellectual Property, and Legal, basically everything you need to know at this stage of the competition.

Pizza and wine will be provided.

Congratulations to all the £100 pounds for 100 Words winners!

If you’re one of the winners, we should have already contacted you for your details so we can send you the prize. If you haven’t heard from us yet, please email info@cue.org.uk

If your idea wasn’t one of the winners, don’t worry: you can still participate in the £1K and £5K competitions. We look forward to receiving all your executive summaries and business plans throughout the rest of the competition and to seeing you at our upcoming events!

Here are the winners and their ideas:

1) Stephen Co, Darryl Gibbings-Isaac

The Phillipines is currently a net importer. Whilst coconut oil is a primary export, the Philippine mango industry is the 9th largest in the world and the country\’s mango processing plant throws away circa 150 tons of mango seed per year. We have developed a patent pending method of extracting mango oil from discarded and underutilized seed kernels using coconut oil as a base solvent; the result being a 100% natural mango-coconut oil hybrid.  Mango-coconut oil is a highly versatile commercial substance which can be used in various aromatherapy applications, and due to our method of extraction, has nutraceutical potential.

2) Bernd Kuhlenschmidt

MobileStudent – Students are under a lot of pressure and want to use their time efficiently. So, why not use waiting times, bus rides, etc. to revise some of the material for your courses. We develop an easy-to-use mobile app allowing students to study from anywhere. The software includes flashcards (for vocabulary and definition training), a document management system and more. Also, it will be easy to exchange learning material with friends.

3) Xin Yang

The fast-growing biopharmaceutical industry spends more than half of its total production cost on downstream purification processes. Current technologies are disappointing due to their low resolution, long processing time and very high cost. A new patented technology, porous micro-capillary film (MCF), provides 10,000 times higher capacity than non-porous matrices, better mechanical strength, very high flow velocity and extremely low cost than existing technologies such as beads and membrane. Moreover, MCF is biodegradable and easy to handle without packing requirement. We propose to explore the markets for this exciting technology (e.g. purification in biopharmacy or non-biopharmacy, dialysis and water/air filtration).

4) Michele Mattioni

Choosing food is usually constrained by time, availability, money and quality. Supermarkets have the upper hand on time, availability and money. However, local producers food is better quality and this is attracting more and more customers, with the market (QFM) estimated at 5B£ and increasing. The SustainableSouk aims to map all the local producers, to create a virtual market based on locations with real-time products availability, where customers can shop online from any close local producers, and collect the products either from a micro-hub, or get them delivered at home.

5) Christopher Warick

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have been described as a disruptive technology changing dramatically the form of established technological solutions, such as variable-antennae and accelerometers. The worldwide market for MEMS currently stands at 15bn and is increasing at CAGR of 16%. Micro-machined silicon surfaces can easily stick together through capillary forces, chemical bonding and other interactions and poses a significant limit to component size, production cost and lifetime. We have developed a novel hydrodynamic lubricant that makes MEMS machines run 100,000 longer. We aim to sell/licence our application know-how to the leading MEMS manufacturers creating value through longer component lifetimes.

6) Alap Chavda

Global sales in hair-loss prevention products rose by 40% in last 4 years to £0.5 billion in 2011. Our patentable SME has (a) specific mode of action, (b) less side effects, and (d) cheaper than current drugs. The SME will be patented in Japan (55%, market share), US (15%) and UK (1%). Our core-expertise will be in the SME production at the Babraham incubator. Marketing & selling will be licensed to Unilever, allowing the latter to expand into pharmaceutical market. Profit forecast in first 4 years is £24m and our exit will be via acquisition.

7) Sam Massey

Motorsport is dangerous, none more so than motorcycle racing. In car racing, safety has greatly increased, deaths and serious injury are now thankfully rare. However, riders are still very much at risk. I have developed a device which restrains head movement and therefore injury during a crash effectively, repeatably and safely. The production of a prototype demonstrated feasibility, and I have now secured a meeting with the largest motorcycle clothing manufacturer in the UK. Research shows a huge potential userbase, with the additional benefit of a road market not present with car-based products, plus alternative markets such as snowsports.

8 ) Boaz Sobrado and Daniel Forde

A popular type of holiday for the 3.29m UK students is the European music festival, yet festivals still rely on word-of-mouth advertising in the UK because of high marketing costs. In other countries local companies (e.g. MEXX and Ostfest) offer student-tailored packages (travel, festival tickets, collective camping and exclusive extra events) and run the festival\’s national marketing and sales. This reduces the cost for the students, increases attendance for festivals abroad and could potentially transform the UK festival market. Being students ourselves our advantages are: understanding our clients, offering better prices and, primarily, marketing and selling more effectively.

9) Sarah Bennett, Julia Frede, Francisco Hernandez Heras, Martin McBrien, Igor Romanov, Hannah Williams, Bella (Yuting) Wu

FlexiLens is a novel low cost polymer-liquid lens that will revolutionise optical systems by delivering zoom and focusing power within a single lens.  It is perfectly suited to drive the miniaturisation of optical systems with the potential to transform the consumer electronics market.  The lens is chemically and biologically inert and mechanically robust therefore it can lead markets for lens products in demanding environments, accessing a wide range of applications from battlefield optics to medical endoscopes.  FlexiLens is an exciting business opportunity as its high quality technological and physical capabilities are delivered by an inexpensive and adaptable patented manufacturing process.

10) Roger Coulston

Microencapsulation is currently a multi-billion ($USD) a year industry with established applications in food, cosmetics, drug delivery, diagnostics, and electronic displays. The current unmet consumer demand is to produce inexpensive capsules that allow for the triggered release of a cargo. This is a critical industry challenge over the next decades. AQDOT has developed an economically viable method to produce capsules with the unprecedented ability to actively and passively release fragrances, enzymes, cells, and other high value materials. We are currently building a prototype for the consumer products industry that will act as a demonstrator for the many other possible applications.

11) Timothy Lindsay, Alexander Fleming

From 1994 to 2010, British hospitals witnessed a 700% rise in children admitted for anaphylaxis. In 2011, 20% of Brits reported some kind of food allergy. Our product empowers these patients through a personalised, rapid detection mobile device enabling avoidance of allergens. Whether allergy is a matter of life and death or daily inconvenience, this product improves quality of life for allergy sufferers and safeguards the service industry.  Gone is the ambiguity of a label or the guesswork of a waiter.  In its place: a simple swipe and scan system that is as liberating as it is easy to use.

12) Ashknaz Oraee

Reduction of capital cost is vital in the growth of the wind industry, especially offshore, and to realise EU’s targets for 2020. Windrive has developed a patented lightweight drivetrain for wind turbines, comprising an integrated medium-speed permanent-magnet generator and a 2-stage gearbox, which enables 20% reduced capital cost for offshore installations. A 50kW prototype has been successfully tested and a 2.5MW machine is being developed. The offshore wind market will grow rapidly in the next 10 years, reaching 80,000MW in 2020. We expect to take a 10% market share by 2020 and generate revenues of £18M, assuming 2.5% licensing income.

13) Maria Maldonado

Identifying the best-quality oocyte is crucial for successful human and veterinary fertilisation procedures, yet robust techniques to achieve this are lacking. Our researchers have patented a comprehensive panel of molecular markers that non-invasively monitor oocyte maturation at different developmental stages, allowing for selection and confirmation of the most viable oocyte and thus dramatically increasing fertility. Our diagnostic can be marketed both for clinical and research settings, and we are expanding from equine molecular markers to homologues in other important livestock, and humans. Our diagnostic promises big economic and societal impact in a world with ageing population and decreasing animal fertility.

14) Peter Fisher and Michal Cabadaj

“Enterprice” is a specialised Internet platform connecting promising early-stage start-ups to VCs worldwide. Start-ups seeking venture capital create free customisable profiles and VCs pay a subscription fee for access to the resulting network, which they can browse through various filters including ‘funds seeking’, ‘business sector’, ‘country’ and ‘development stage’. Initial invitees to join the network will be early stage spin-outs from prestigious universities. This platform will help raise the visibility of start-ups whilst allowing VCs access to a broad network of investment opportunities they can filter and pursue at will, rather than leafing through thousands of unsolicited business plans.

15) Smita Kumar

The inaccessibility of regular health checks for the general population is a major cause of downstream healthcare issues and associated re-imbursement costs by insurers and taxpayers. MedBooth is a self-contained unit that allows individuals to independently evaluate their health at their own convenience. MedBooth users can assess current health and future health risks by inputting key health indicators and taking blood pressure, body mass index, cholesterol, diabetes, lung capacity and other measurements. Easy to understand reports (at a cost 1/20th of that of the annual health check-up) advise individuals of their current risks and recommend them to a GP accordingly.

16) Bethan Evans

Bio-barcode makes personalised medicine a reality and increases time-to-market of New Biological Compounds (NBC). Bio-barcode is a high-volume analytical platform technology for sequencing DNA/proteins/antibodies in commercial laboratories. Patented microparticle emit a magnetically sequenced barcode-like field unique to the protein to which it is bound. The codes are read by microfluidic high-speed scanning heads much like an old VCR. Bio-barcode microparticles have unlimited specificity to any analyte allowing million-plexing, accelerating new-drug development. Bio-barcode will position itself in the $600billion pharmaceutical R&D tools market, seeking partnerships and investment from the top 10 novel drug manufacturers.

17) Marius Somveille

Population growth and increasing demand for clean water result in higher price and stronger pressure on ecosystems. Indeed, cleaning water is a major ecosystem service but ecosystems cannot match our consumption rate anymore. Inspired by green walls art, I propose to commercialise ‘vertical gardens’ (fixed on buildings) capable of collecting rainwater and cleaning it with filtering plants. Clean water can then be used for domestic tasks (showers, dishwashing, laundry, toilets, and potentially for drinking). This is an aesthetic and sustainable solution, which is also advantageous in terms of economy (reduce water bill and heating bill – great insulator) and image.

18) Allen Lin

Like waiting at the doctor’s office? No one does. IntelliScheduler for Doctors is a smart, cloud-based scheduler that reduces patients’ wait-times and dynamically updates appointments in real-time. Using proprietary machine learning algorithms, IntelliScheduler statistically learns doctors’ behaviors and patients’ arrival habits to predict when patients will actually be seen. It gracefully handles service-time variations, delays, and emergencies to minimize patients’ frustration and doctors’ unbilled time. It also allows patients to leave waiting rooms by text-messaging estimated wait-times. By increasing customer satisfaction and likelihood-of-return, IntelliScheduler raises doctors’ revenues. IntelliScheduler can provide customizable, easy-to-setup, privacy-compliant software for over 250,000 US/UK physician offices.

19) Nadia M Jesus

To overcome poor healthcare infrastructure in low-income countries, UMAN Diagnostics will launch HemoTest, a cheap and disposable immunoassay test strip for rapid SCD diagnosis. SCD affects millions of people worldwide and it’s the most common genetic disorder in Africa, where up to 80% of the 400 000 children born with the disease per year die before 5. However, if cases are diagnosed and treated, then survival rates improve significantly. This new frugal technology will enable point-of-care testing of patients in limited access settings to allow best treatment decisions. The model envisioned to develop HemoTest is an industrial partnership.

20) Antoine Amann

Echobox lets bloggers publish and monetize their blogposts on smartphones. More and more people are using smartphones to read their news and blogs. To counter this trend, news outlets have created beautiful mobile apps. Bloggers, on the other hand, do not have the financial means to create great mobile experiences for their readers. Echobox solves this problem. We publish a blogger’s blogposts on our mobile app and forward our ad revenues back to the blogger (after taking a cut). Echobox will only take two minutes for bloggers to set up and will be free for their readers to download.

Have a great idea but lack a complete team? Have entrepreneurial aspirations but no ideas? CUE’s Co-founder Speed Dating on November 14th is the solution for you!

With an exciting and fast paced format, participants will get 2 minutes each to share their ideas and expertise with one another before rotating to form new pairs.

Opportunities are also available for participants to share an elevator pitch of their ideas to the entire crowd! Please email info@cue.org.uk if you are interested!

The most promising business ideas coming out of Coventry this year will also be revealed during the announcement of the winners of the £100 for 100 Words competition! So come on down to share ideas and meet like-minded people over pizza and drinks.

Register at cuespeeddating2012.eventbrite.com