On Wednesday evening 29 March, beepurple, the University’s startup support team, hosted the 2023 University of Brighton Ideas Competition.
The Ideas Competition Final, made possible with the support of Santander UK Universities , is one of the highlights of our beepurple calendar.
At the final last week, eight students pitched head-to-head to compete for cash prizes to help fund their startup ideas. The pitches were judged by our lineup of local founders:
- Neema Amin, Founder of Escape Strategist
- Holly Price, Deputy Relationship Director of Santander Universities
- Heidi Swinyard, Founder of Teddy Brighton (Heidi is also one of graduate entrepreneurs)
- Matt Turner, CEO of Creative Pod.
All the finalists’ ideas were of high quality, and their pitches were extremely slick. Judge Matt Turner said: ‘The night was awesome! I thought all the students presented really well and some ideas have massive potential’. After deliberations, the judges chose three clear and deserving winners:
First prize £1000: Kyle Withey @kylewitheydesign in his final year studying Product Design with Professional Experience for his idea for a new type of 3d printer.
Second prize £500: Morris Winby @urbantemplate in his first year studying 3d Design and Craft for his idea for flat pack furniture tackling the waste from the bike industry.
Third prize £250: Oli Court @oraclewritersworkshop completing an MA in Creative Writing this year for his idea for creative writing workshops for beginner to early career writers.
Well done to all eight finalists!
Clare Griffiths, Business Development Manager at beepurple, was delighted with the quality of entries: ‘I am always impressed with – and motivated by – our students’ creativity and desire to do good in the world. Thank you to Holly Price, and Santander Universities, for their ongoing support, enabling us to empower our entrepreneurial students’.
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