December 19, 2016, by Matthew Lumley
Ingenuity17: First Nottingham tri-campus competition
Steve Chapman and Genelva Meikle, Module Convenors
Calling all students, researchers and alumni entrepreneurs
The Ingenuity Lab’s annual entrepreneurship competition, Ingenuity17, has returned and registration is now open.
This year, University of Nottingham students, researchers and alumni entrepreneurs will compete to be in with a chance of winning a share of the £100,000 prize fund. This will be the first tri-campus competition, inviting students and alumni in both Ningbo and Malaysia to enter.
The competition is sponsored by the University’s Asia Business Centre, Careers and Employability Service and partners including Santander Universities, Shakespeare Martineau, Potter Clarkson and BDO. You will have the opportunity to pitch for a range of cash prizes and support, including advice on patenting, accounting and contracts work.
During February 2017, The Ingenuity Lab will take over the Trent Building delivering a 3-day idea-development conference. You will take a new idea through a variety of activities in order to submit an outlined business plan with participants in Ningbo and Malaysia attending localised events.
The top 20 entrants will be invited to pitch in the semi-finals, followed by the final pitch event for the top five entrants. The competition will culminate in a prize ceremony in April, where winners will be awarded a share of the £100,000 prize fund.
A winning story and entrepreneurial journey
2016 Winner Jonny Pryn has gone from strength to strength since scooping £35,000, including the Vice-Chancellor’s Entrepreneurial Potential Award. Jonny and business partner Alex Somervell, have set up a unique company One Third Stories, a language learning revolution, developing children’s stories that start in English and finish in a different language.
“Taking part in Ingenuity16 was an invaluable opportunity to share ideas with other entrepreneurs and get lots of practice pitching. We learnt so much from the process and actually winning the competition completely transformed our business. It gave us the resources we needed to test our products in schools and run a successful Kickstarter campaign that resulted in £40,000 of pre-orders. Soon, we’ll be launching a new product range and raising further investment. Ingenuity16 was a major factor in our successes so far and I’d recommend it to anyone with entrepreneurial ambitions.”
Jonny Pryn, Director of One Third Stories
Share your eureka moment by the 27 January 2017
If you are a student, researcher or alumni in the UK, Ningbo or Malaysia and have an interesting business idea, why not take five minutes out of your day to apply? External candidates may enter as long as they are part of a University of Nottingham team. Teams, or individuals, must fully complete the online registration form, which requires a brief outline of your idea, details about your team, and your availability for the various seminars and activities across the competition.
Prizes include the Vice-Chancellor’s Entrepreneurial Potential Award, a prize for the best pitch and an Asia Business Prize.
Find out more about Ingenuity17 via http://www.bit.ly/Ingenuity17 and follow the Ingenuity Lab on Twitter, @UoNIngLab – #Ingenuity17.
Key Dates
Registration Deadline: 27 January 2017 via the online registration form
Ingenuity17 3 Day Conference: Friday 17 – Sunday 19 February 2017
Submission of Business Plans: Friday 10 March 2017
Pitch Finals: 3 – 7 April 2017
Prize Giving Ceremony: Wednesday 27 April 2016
More module information can be found here.
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