Our 2020 finalists for the Bright SCIdea Challenge have been selected!
On 17th March, our shortlisted teams will enjoy a series of expert talks before pitching their science-based innovation to our panel of judges. There will also be a number of networking opportunities which will allow teams to raise their profiles amongst the commercial scientific community.
The winners of the Bright SCIdea Challenge will walk away with £5,000 cash!
Meet the next three of the six teams who will be vying for the top prize:
CatchMaps:
Team CatchMaps is made up of three students from Cranfield University and Reading University.
What interested you to compete in Bright SCIdea Challenge?
This competition offers the opportunity to develop our business skills. We would like to think our scientific research abilities are strong but we are working hard to learn more about the business sector. The videos available to us were useful in developing our thinking and prompted us to think more rigorously about our costs. Additionally, we heard from previous attendees that we could greatly benefit from the networking opportunities at the event.
What are you hoping to achieve with your product/service?
The CatchMaps team are visionaries and ultimately we want our service be an essential tool that helps all farmers work in truly sustainable ways. This means helping them to balance their farm business profitability with connected, healthy landscapes that deliver goods like cleaner air and water to all of society. However, to achieve this vision, we must be pragmatic. So the service will be focused on providing farmers with information that they care about, can understand and can act upon. This means creating maps working in unison with our customers, helping them to see their farms from new perspectives.
QMUL:
Team QMUL is made up of three students from QMUL.
What are you hoping to achieve for your product or service by entering the Bright SCIdea Challenge?
We are hoping to spread awareness of our alternative green energy solution throughout the world and we believe to start with Bright SCIdea as it would help us connect with the scientific communities of the world. We hope to achieve a successful implementation of our idea, transforming the current state of energy market, helping countries achieve their UN goals and create a positive impact in other people’s daily lives. If we were to win, we would implement our product and therefore in the next 10 years, electricity would be significantly cheaper and carbon emissions would be reduced throughout the globe, finally supporting our planet to heal itself.
What interests you the most about Bright SCIdea?
The BrightSCIdea Challenge will help us connect with the scientific community, to compete with other bright minds and will give us vital feedback, helping us with improving our product and its future.
Metallogen:
Team Metallogen is made up of three students from UCL.
What interested you to compete in Bright SCIdea Challenge?
The unique mix of training, networking opportunities and business skills development offered by the program was immensely attractive to us, particularly given we are all aspiring scientists wishing to use our skills to action positive and sustainable change. The invaluable experience of developing a realistic business plan, from investigating cutting edge research to pitching our idea, will stand us all in good stead moving forwards with our careers.
What are you hoping to achieve with your product/service?
Our idea will combat heavy metal pollution in contaminated soils, helping alleviate the strain on agriculture and the wider ecosystem.
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