Finalists announced for InvEnterPrize 2018

Right to left, Inventerprize 2017 winners Pasi Sachiti and Ariel Ladegaard with Inventerprize organiser Tony Orme, Alana Spencer, Professor Donald Davies, Chair of the Judges, Louise Jagger, Director of Development and Alumni Relations and Professor John Grattan, Pro Vice-Chancellor at Aberystwyth University.

Right to left, Inventerprize 2017 winners Pasi Sachiti and Ariel Ladegaard with Inventerprize organiser Tony Orme, Alana Spencer, Professor Donald Davies, Chair of the Judges, Louise Jagger, Director of Development and Alumni Relations and Professor John Grattan, Pro Vice-Chancellor at Aberystwyth University.

16 March 2018

The finalists for Aberystwyth University’s annual entrepreneurship competition, which is worth £10,000 to the winner, have been announced.

Six individuals/teams have made the final round of InvEnterPrize 2018 which takes place on Monday 19 March 2018.

The finalists are:

  • James Bryan, Aberystwyth Business School
  • Daniel Bursztynski, Computer Science
  • Ben Butler, Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences
  • Harry Dennis, Ally Hall, Sunny Bradbury, Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences
  • Tom Lancaster, Aberystwyth Business School
  • Carlos Roldan Torregrossa, Department of Computer Science
  • James Stone, Department of Computer Science

The six were chosen from a field of 22 entries by a panel of seven successful Aberystwyth University alumni under the chairmanship of Professor Donald Davies of Imperial College London.                                               

The finalists will present their business proposals to a panel of judges in a Dragon’s Den style event, with the winner expected to be announced around 3:30pm on Monday afternoon.

InvEnterPrize organiser and Aberystwyth University entrepreneurship champion, Tony Orme, said: “The quality of the entries this year has been exceptional and the final promises to be a very close run thing indeed. We are immensely grateful to our panel of judges for their valuable time and expertise in this year’s search for a winner, and to the University’s alumni who make this competition possible via the Aber Fund. The six business proposals are fascinating and varied, and will no doubt pose a real challenge to the judges as they seek this year’s winner.

The successful entry will be able to invest their prize money in equipment, facilities or professional services to turn their invention or business start-up idea into reality.

Also up for grabs this year is free office space for one year at the Aberystwyth Innovation & Enterprise Campus, which is offered for proposals based in the bio-sciences, life sciences and agriculture sectors.

Throughout the competition, entrants have had the opportunity to seek expert advice and attend a series of workshops and presentations led by successful entrepreneurs as they developed their final bids, gaining valuable advice on the way.

This year’s entrants will be looking to emulate the success of Kar-go, who scooped the top prize in 2017.

The brainchild of students Ariel Ladegaard and Aparajit Narayan, and former student Pasi William Sachiti, Kar-go is a concept driverless delivery vehicle.

Ariel and Pasi were presented with a cheque for £10,000 by The Apprentice winner Alana Spencer in March 2017.

Sponsored by contributions from the University’s alumni, InvEnterPrize is organised by the University’s Careers Service.

Aberystwyth University offers a full programme of events to support entrepreneurial activity amongst students, alumni and staff. To find out more visit the AberPreneurs online pages here.

The judges for InvEnterPrize 2018:
Donald Davies (Chair) - Emeritus Professor in Toxicology at Imperial College London and a Founding Director of ML Laboratories plc (pharmaceuticals), one of the first public biotechnology companies to be listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Jane Clayton - A qualified practising chartered accountant, Jane is also an experienced non-executive Director. She is currently Chairman of Bay Leisure Limited and Treasurer of St David's Medical Foundation.

Nigel Davies - After graduate and postgraduate studies in Aberystwyth, Nigel worked for 30 years in corporate technology and business. In 2003 he was the founding director of Innoval Technology, which is a UK technology-based consultancy with a global client base.

Peter Gradwell - Peter studied Software Engineering at Aberystwyth, graduating in 2002. While at University he founded his own internet communications company, Gradwell Dot Com Ltd.

Huw Morgan - Former Head of Business Banking, HSBC Bank plc, Huw worked for HSBC for the majority of his working life. He was most recently responsible for Business Banking and Franchising for the UK

David Sargen - Managing Partner of Derivatives Risk Solutions LLP, a specialist risk consultancy providing expertise across a broad spectrum of disciplines within the financial industry, with a particular focus on the global derivatives market.

Kerry Diamond - Chair of the Welsh Industrial Development Advisory Board, which advises the Welsh Government on grant support to business, also a ‎Business Improvement Consultant, and Vice-Chair for Stoke and Staffs Local Enterprise Partnership. Formerly Chief Financial Officer, Zytec - automotive systems - high performance racing cars and road cars.

All seven judges are graduates of Aberystwyth University.