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Blueprint Grand Final 2006

Added 20th Oct 2006

SIX budding businesses had a £100,000 taste of success this week when they were hailed as the winners of the UK’s top university business planning competition.

The six winners from the region’s universities, walked away with £35,000 in cash and thousands of pounds more in in-kind support when they took the winning places in Blueprint: The North East Universities Business Planning Competition.

More than 300 guests attended the glittering awards dinner at the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead on Wednesday night, to hear which contestants had been singled out by the judges.

It marked the climax of a gruelling process involving all five of the region’s universities, each of which held their own business planning competitions to select winners to go forward to Wednesday’s Blueprint Grand Final.

Entrants included teams of students and academic staff with ideas ranging from a customised funeral service for bikers, with a specially designed hearse pulled by a Harley Davidson, to a business making and selling proteins to the pharmaceutical industry for use in drug development and trials.

They all received mentoring in preparing and fine-tuning their business plans and were given the chance to run those plans past a panel of experts chosen from sponsoring organisations in a `Pilot your Pitch’ event last month.

On the day of the final, the contestants presented their business plans to two separate judging panels for the Business Awards and Science and Technology Awards categories.

Winner of the Science and Technology Award category was ConoStem, which was set up by academics at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne’s medical school. The team has developed a way of taking human stem cells from placentas and umbilical chords and growing them into 3d models of human organs for use in drug testing and development. This can speed research, leading to safer drugs and avoiding the need for much human and animals testing.

It is even hoped the technology can ultimately be developed for growing human organs for transplant.

Professor Colin McGuckin of ConoStem said: “It’s excellent that this region has recognised us and it will help enormously with our credibility with investors. It also shows that good academic research can have commercial viability and can reach out to the wider community. I believe Blueprint is unique in this country and to have something like this that takes your business forward and provides not only training but expert advice has been a big benefit for us.’’

And the winner of the Business Awards category, Simon Creek, with his business Auricularis. His business plan is for the manufacture and retail of foam based ear pads to be fitted to bud ear phones to improve comfort and security of fit. Simon, who is in the second year of a Mathematical Sciences PhD has applied for patent status and is working with a design company on a prototype.

After receiving his award, he said: “I feel absolutely ecstatic. I can’t believe the situation I’m in now compared to where I was seven or eight months ago, it’s just a dream. Blueprint has taken my idea from just being an idea to being a reality and it has transformed the direction of where things were going with my life.’’

The winner of each category received £10,000 in cash, runners-up got £5,000 and the highly commended pocketed £2,500. In addition, the successful contestants will benefit from a huge range of in-kind support, from rent-free premises to free legal advice.

Organiser Professor Max Robinson, Enterprise Education Director at the North-East Centre for Scientific Enterprise said: “This year has been the best Blueprint yet and standards of entry have been even higher. This reveals what a dynamic and growing culture of enterprise we have in the region’s universities.

“Some of these businesses have the potential to be world-beaters and, indeed, some are already attracting international attention. The strength of Blueprint is in identifying, mentoring, encouraging and rewarding these young entrepreneurs.

“The great thing is that Blueprint has now become embedded in the region, it has become part of the business scenery.’’

Blueprint is sponsored by a number of leading North East organisations and businesses. These are: Baker Tilly, Consett Innovation Centre, Cenamps, Dickinson Dees, Entrust, National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE), NEL Fund Managers, NStar, Newcastle City Council City Technology Office, One NorthEast, RTC North, Tyne and Wear Development Company, Ward Hadaway plus a number of supporters. The support of these sponsors and their ongoing commitment to the competition is essential, and plays a vital role in driving innovation in the region.

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