Pitch Your Idea 2009 - Photos at last!

The Pitch Your Idea business plan competition final was over a month ago now, on April 8th, but I've finally got photos from it to post here, to give everyone an idea of what the event was like.

Nine finalists pitched their business plans to a panel of six judges whose expertise covered finance, IP, biotechnology and entrepreneurship. Following their pitch, each finalist was grilled for about 15 minutes by the panel - an experience that was described as being nerve-wracking, but much more positive than Dragon's Den! After a long deliberation (that felt even longer to those of us waiting outside) the judges finally settled on a winner - Becky Stewart from Electronic Engineering for her "AudioBlitz" idea. Melissa George from the Physics department and Martin Morrell, also from Electronic Engineering, were awarded runner-up prizes.

Everybody really enjoyed the day, and the feedback from both the judges and the finalists was very positive. The judges were extremely impressed with standards of the ideas and pitches, and the finalists all said how much they appreciated not only the judges questions and advice, but also the confidence and communication skills they had developed through the competition.

Pitch your Idea will be running again next year, probably starting in January 2010, so watch this space if you are interested! A web area will be set up to publicise next year's event, and photos, videos and interviews from this year will be available on that site.

Biotechnology YES

The Biotechnology YES (Young Entrepreneurs Scheme) is an innovative competition developed to raise awareness of the commercialisation of bioscience ideas among postgraduate students/postdoctoral scientists.

More information can be found here.

In order to enter the competition, you need to form a team of (usually 4-5) PhD students and/or post-docs and develop an imaginary idea that has the potential for commercialisation. As the website says, "Your idea should be based on biotechnology that is realistic, but is currently hypothetical. For example, you could assume for the sake of the competition, as the 2002 winning team did, that a micro-organism has been identified with novel enzymatic activity. Remember that you idea must be believable; you should be able to account for the advances in science needed to develop your imaginary technology."

Local three-day workshops are then held to help you develop your idea into a business plan, and to prepare a presentation to sell your idea to a panel. Two teams from each local workshop are then invited to participate in the final.

The closing date for entries is 17th June, so there's still plenty of time to get thinking of ideas. Local workshops will be held in the autumn, and the final will be held in December.

For anyone working in the biosciences who is interested in finding out about commercialisation of biotechnology, this really is a fantastic opportunity. I took part in the 2002 competition (or 03? Can't quite remember!) while I was doing my PhD, and spent an amazing few days at a local workshop in Edinburgh, attending presentations from business and biotech experts, and staying up until all hours putting together our business plan and presentation. Sadly, my team didn't make it through to the final, but I learned an incredible amount from those few days, both about commercialisation of biotechnology research and about myself and what I am capable of. Plus, it was really great fun, and we got to go to the zoo on the way home. Can't argue with that!

Pitch Your Idea - Business plan training & competition

The 2009 ‘Pitch Your Idea’ business plan competition and training programme is open to all PhDs and postdocs across the College.

This competition is a great chance for you to gain an insight into the business world and to see if you can turn your ideas into a winning business. Everyone is welcome to participate, regardless of discipline and all you need to have is an idea. Your idea can be anything from your research to a hobby or interest you enjoy. Finalists from last year’s competition started with ideas that ranged from developing computer software that could follow drumbeats, to setting up a martial arts club in the local community.

Whatever your idea, in the competition you will gain valuable training and advice from business professionals on how to develop a short business plan. The competition begins with three workshops (3 hours each) held in January and February 2009. Areas covered will include intellectual property, marketing and sales, routes to market, securing finances and writing business plans. Following these workshops you will have a chance to practise ‘pitching’ your idea and getting some invaluable feedback from professionals. Two advice and networking lunches are scheduled for February-March to allow you to finalise the details of your business idea, by seeking advice from experts and some of last years finalists.

After the training stage is over you will be asked to submit a short business plan, and finalists will be chosen based on these. If you are one of the finalists you will have the opportunity to ‘Pitch Your Idea’ to an expert panel of judges at the finale in April, and be in with a chance to win the top prize of £1500 towards conference travel.

Places on the competition are still available, but the deadline for applying for a place is January 14th 2009. If you would like any more information, please do not hesitate to contact me, or to book a place on the competition just send me an e-mail with your details, and a brief description of your idea. Remember, it doesn’t have to be fully formed at this stage – the training programme will help you develop it into a business plan.