I have won the Top 12 of Business idea within University of Edinburgh. And I have already received the invitation of Idea Competition within Scotland. That is really exciting! Come on!

The winner webpage

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Congratulations to the winners of the LAUNCH.ed Business Ideas Competition, who were selected by a panel of external judges in late January. 

They will now compete against students from across Scotland to win up to £1000 in business funding. The top three entries also received prizes from LAUNCH.ed: 
  1. Winning an iPad2: Kanika Bansal and Mansi Aggarwal, Device to Prevent Hospital Infections 
  2. Winning an iPod nano: Maria Hillenkamp, Pootential 
  3. Winning a Kindle: Robert Trigwell, CENNEC 
Also placing: 
  • Kanika Bansal and Mansi Aggarwal, Hospital Bed 
  • Emilian Radoi and Cosmin Dumitrache, Football Bets 
  • Oscar Naranjo, Colony Management Service 
  • Francis Pettitt and team, Find My Bike 
  • Jian Xiong, Listening 
  • Austin Tobin, Maciej Pajak, Roberto Bezoari, and Marat Subkhankulov, Smart City Traffic Reporter 
  • Chris Wait and Barnaby Jackson, The Greenhouse Project 
  • Julius Gunneman, IB Your Tutor 
  • Sam Zawadski and Bilal Khan, Digilets 
  • Marie Leiknes and Jennifer Pearce, Leik Knitwear


The invitation letter

Dear Winners of your University’s New Ideas Competition,
Congratulations on advancing to the national SIE New Ideas Competition!
It is my pleasure to invite you to attend SIE’s Start-up Day on Saturday, 11th February within the Sidlaw building, Westpark Conference Centre, Perth Road, Dundee.
You will join the other finalists from all Scottish higher education institutions for a day designed to help you think about further developing your idea and teach you more about entrepreneurship.

This event is free to all invited and we will reimburse you for the reasonable cost of travel by train or bus within Scotland to Dundee itself, as long as you save your receipt and bring it with you on the day.  Please note, there will be a coach (Sidlaw Executive Travel) collecting everyone from Dundee train station that morning, departing no later than 9.30am.  This will take you directly to Westpark Conference Centre.  Registration is from 9.45am(a light breakfast will be provided then) - the programme itself will run from 10.30am – 4.45pm. There will also be a coach provided to take everyone back to the train station at the end of the day.

 To confirm your place at Start-up Day please email my colleague, Evelyn Hynan, [email protected]  by Tuesday 7thFebruary  *Please note that there is only one member per team allocated a place*


Here is some more information about the day and what we need you to do next:-

1. This practical and inspiring day will feature sessions from experienced presenters and facilitators who will work with you on the building blocks required to  turn your  idea into a good business idea or drive your new venture forward. The day will get you thinking about the key elements of a good business model including your customers and your USP, possible marketing and sales strategies, as well as revenue streams and costs.

The sessions are designed to allow you to build a business model to support your new idea or, if you are already at the new venture stage, to refine your existing one. Either way, you will leave with a personalised action plan.

The day is also a great chance to network and share ideas..... even crowd-source for some help in resourcing your new idea or venture!

The day will also include a pitching contest and you will have the chance to pitch your idea in 20 seconds to our panel of judges with the winner receiving £100!

Even if you are still unsure as to whether you will be taking your idea forward, I highly recommend that you come.  Start-up Dayis a great opportunity to learn a lot about business in general, it will help with your CV, and you will make some good contacts.  

2. If you decide to enter the final national round of the New Ideas Competition, you will need to email us a revised plan for your idea (about 3-5 pages) by midnight of Friday 17th February 2012.  We will give you more information about this at Start-up Day. You can also go to http://www.sie.ac.uk/index.php/explore/new-ideas-competition/nic-overview.

3. We will review these final submissions and then select the top national finalists who will pitch to a panel of judges on Saturday 10th March in Edinburgh for the chance to win up to £1500 which includes in-kind business support.  We will provide more information about this later.  You will also be reimbursed for your travel that day as well.

4. The winners will be announced at our Annual Student Enterprise Summit on Thursday 22nd March at the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow and if you are invited to attend we will reimburse you for your travel though there will be free coaches leaving throughout the country to go to Glasgow that day anyway.

If you have any questions about Start-up Day, please do not hesitate to contact Evelyn or I.

 Look forward to hearing from you!

Best Regards

Ann

Ann Davidson
Enterprise Programme Director
Scottish Institute for Enterprise



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