Brighton Business School students dominate Santander Ideas Competition

A new online platform that helps researchers to plan, conduct and analyse research has scooped a £1,500 prize.

Robert Otim

The Santander University of Brighton Ideas Competition was won by Robert Otim, a recent Product Design graduate. Robert’s idea ‘Pipette’ was developed while working in the data and analytics industry.

In second place was our very own Brighton Business School student, Mathew Dixon (MSc Finance and Investment), who pitched ‘EVAI’, an artificial intelligence-driven alternative to the established financial ratings systems. Third prize was won by Kamil Jarosz (BSc(Hons) Business Management) with ‘Blank Space’ which aims to make high-quality art from upcoming new artists affordable and accessible to a wider market.

Runners up were: Laura Brown (BA Textiles Design with Business Studies) with AURA, a venture to change perceptions of second-hand clothing in Brazil; Greta Pasin (MSc International Event Management) with Hustle, an app addressing waste in the events industry; Rei Celo (BSc(Hons) Software Engineering) with Rewardsly, a digital loyalty card technology for independent retailers; and Joe Elgar (BSc(Hons) Business Management with Marketing and Placement Year)  with an immersive art production company.

All finalists received a cash prize from Santander and are offered support to develop their ideas via beepurple, the University of Brighton’s entrepreneurship support service.

The competition’s judges included Holly Price, Relationship Manager at Santander Universities UK, and University of Brighton alumnus James Burton, an experienced entrepreneur who has been providing mentorship to students and graduates through the university’s beepurple which  equips students with key skills that will improve their employability and helps grow successful businesses.

Clare Griffiths, the university’s Business Development Manager (Entrepreneurship), said: “I want to congratulate all of the finalists, who delivered exceptional pitches via online video, and I am grateful to Santander Universities, as well as our Entrepreneur-in-Residence James Burton, for their fantastic support. This was one of the hardest competitions to judge in recent years, the standard was so high. This competition has helped many businesses get started and we look forward to working with this year’s finalists to develop their ideas further.”