Ingenuity19 is the University of Nottingham’s annual innovation event designed to discover and develop enterprising ideas to transform our future. It’s a brilliant opportunity for disruptors, entrepreneurs and community innovators to come together, and explore key challenges facing society.
Winner: Proodle Solutions - Shrenik Paras Parmar, MBA Graduate and Afraz Hussain, Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence Graduate - £1,500 Engineers in Business Prize
Shrenik and Afroz developed Proodle Solutions which builds mobile recruitment apps for universities, using branded digital marketing, enabling them to stand out from the international competition to attract, engage and convert prospective students. Shrenik said, “Ingenuity19 has opened the doors for Proodle Solutions, and it has provided us with brand recognition and credibility that adds value to our business. It’s the sum of all parts (the Summits, Develop Programme, pitching and networking) that makes the difference towards shaping our present and achieving our goals. Winning the prestigious awards will help us strengthen our value proposition, and the cash prizes will help us to run our pilot trials with early adopters efficiently.”
Shrenik and Afroz developed Proodle Solutions which builds mobile recruitment apps for universities, using branded digital marketing, enabling them to stand out from the international competition to attract, engage and convert prospective students. Shrenik said, “Ingenuity19 has opened the doors for Proodle Solutions, and it has provided us with brand recognition and credibility that adds value to our business. It’s the sum of all parts (the Summits, Develop Programme, pitching and networking) that makes the difference towards shaping our present and achieving our goals. Winning the prestigious awards will help us strengthen our value proposition, and the cash prizes will help us to run our pilot trials with early adopters efficiently.”
Second Place Winner: The ExpHand, Kate Walker, Product Design and Manufacturing Student - £1,000 Engineers in Business Prize
Kate's innovation, The ExpHand, is a 3D printed prosthetic arm that can be adjusted to grow with a child. It can be ftted at home and costs less than £50 to produce. Kate said, “Through the Ingenuity events I have been able to network and learn from many talented current and future entrepreneurs. The speakers at both the Summits and Develop Programme talks were inspiring and passed on a wealth of knowledge and experience to everyone who had the opportunity to listen. The connections I made through this competition have already enabled me to move forward in my business and develop my plans for the future. I cannot begin to express how thankful I am to have been awarded prizes through the Ingenuity19 Competition. The prize money I have been given covers my major expenses for the next year and will allow me to take my business from prototype to production. With this prize money I will be able to begin changing the prosthetics market for good and give children the access to the prosthetics they need.”
Kate's innovation, The ExpHand, is a 3D printed prosthetic arm that can be adjusted to grow with a child. It can be ftted at home and costs less than £50 to produce. Kate said, “Through the Ingenuity events I have been able to network and learn from many talented current and future entrepreneurs. The speakers at both the Summits and Develop Programme talks were inspiring and passed on a wealth of knowledge and experience to everyone who had the opportunity to listen. The connections I made through this competition have already enabled me to move forward in my business and develop my plans for the future. I cannot begin to express how thankful I am to have been awarded prizes through the Ingenuity19 Competition. The prize money I have been given covers my major expenses for the next year and will allow me to take my business from prototype to production. With this prize money I will be able to begin changing the prosthetics market for good and give children the access to the prosthetics they need.”
Third Place Winner: Sunstainable Water - Tabitha Wacera, Sustainable Water and MSc Sustainable Energy Engineering Graduate - £500 Engineers in Business Prize
One billion people in the world lack access to water – a basic human right. Sustainable Water has developed an affordable solar water pump to be deployed for water supply in developing countries. Tabitha said, “Ingenuity19 pushed me to bring my best and leave all my cards on the table. I felt the fear and pushed on anyway. I know this because fear has held me back before. "Sustainable Water now has the capital to scale up. This means that more people will get access to a constant water supply. We can now ofer a holistic solution for solving the water crisis. "The relationships, introductions and connections made have given us a conversation starter, and opened doors to people who would have been really hard to reach without Ingenuity19.” Tabitha was also winner of the Vice-Chancellor’s Impact Scholarship (£10,000); Santander Enterprise Award (£4,000); and The Brenda Dean Ingenuity Scholarship (£4,000)!
One billion people in the world lack access to water – a basic human right. Sustainable Water has developed an affordable solar water pump to be deployed for water supply in developing countries. Tabitha said, “Ingenuity19 pushed me to bring my best and leave all my cards on the table. I felt the fear and pushed on anyway. I know this because fear has held me back before. "Sustainable Water now has the capital to scale up. This means that more people will get access to a constant water supply. We can now ofer a holistic solution for solving the water crisis. "The relationships, introductions and connections made have given us a conversation starter, and opened doors to people who would have been really hard to reach without Ingenuity19.” Tabitha was also winner of the Vice-Chancellor’s Impact Scholarship (£10,000); Santander Enterprise Award (£4,000); and The Brenda Dean Ingenuity Scholarship (£4,000)!
Positive Feedback
Working with the EIBF has been an extremely valued partnership over the past 3 years, and a key part of the ongoing growth and success of the Ingenuity event. Ingenuity is an annual public innovation and entrepreneurship event which aims to create a forum for idea exploration and impact enterprise development currently.
Over the past 4 years we have attracted over 2000 participants and the EIBF prize has enabled us to reach out to entrepreneurial engineering and computer science students and young academics. We now have an impressive roll call of tech and product-based businesses that have taken advantage of the prize and network opportunities. Another notable outcome has been many more female entrepreneurs with an engineering focus being attracted to Ingenuity and ultimately using the EIBF prize as a spring board to success.
Steve Chapman, Ingenuity Event Director, University of Nottingham