Three entrepreneurial teams behind a medical devices company, a plant health sensor manufacturer and a maker of eco-friendly cleaning products, have won a share of £17,500 of University of Strathclyde funding.
A further two teams won £75,000 each for Outstanding Business Idea Research Papers as part of the Stephen Young Entrepreneurship Awards.
Claymore Surgical, Surfteic and Happy Leaf were announced as winners at the Inspire100 event, held at Strathclyde’s Technology and Innovation Centre.
The biannual event is organised by Strathclyde Inspire – the university’s flagship entrepreneurship programme, which offers entrepreneurial training and opportunities to all students, staff members and alumni.
The event saw six 'Strathclyder-led' companies pitch their businesses investment proposals to an audience of entrepreneurs, investors and experts from Scotland's entrepreneurial community.
The judges at the event were: Angus MacFadyen, chief executive of NXD; Dave Pratt, chair of Synaptec; and Sara Deas, chair of North Ayrshire’s Community Wealth Building expert advisory group.
Claymore Surgical, led by Scott Black, which designs novel medical and surgical devices relating to paediatric airway maintenance, was awarded £7,500 from Santander Universities funding
Surfteic, led by Susan and Mark Hamilton, which produces a sustainable new product to replace conventional surfactants with effective bio-based alternatives; and Happy Leaf, led by Amy Roberts and Iain Quinn, which is developing an all-in-one smart sensor and app solution which monitors the health of a plant through a soil sensor, were both awarded £5,000 each from the Stephen Young Emerging Entrepreneurs Awards.
The event also provided a platform for announcing the winners of the £150,000 Stephen Young Awards for Outstanding Business Idea Research Paper, which were presented to Dr Momchil Vasilev, a research associate in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, and professors Karen Faulds and Duncan Graham of the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, who received £75,000 apiece.
The award is presented in memory of the late Professor Stephen Young, former Head of Strathclyde’s Department of Marketing.
Fiona Ireland, head of entrepreneurship strategy at the university, said: “Through our Inspire100 event and the generous funding we have received from Dr Charles Huang and Santander Universities, we are proud to support the Strathclyde community in their entrepreneurial endeavours, helping them to develop innovation solutions to a wide range of challenges.
“The support we are able to provide will help these exciting young companies to grow.”
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