UCL Enterprise Awards to recognise business successes of academics and students

Press release from University College London

A web application designed to provide personalised nutritional information to UK consumers, a novel solution to replace traditional painful and expensive ear irrigation, and the £10 million sale of an orthopaedic business focused on saving and restoring the function of limbs and joints, are among the UCL enterprise stories to be recognised at the university’s inaugural Enterprise Awards ceremony on Thursday 1 May.

The UCL Enterprise Awards will mark the accomplishments of a new generation of entrepreneurs and innovators, with prizes awarded to staff and students in a range of categories. Key awards include:

•    UCL Business Award 2008: Winner – Professor Gordon Blunn, Institute of Orthopaedics & Musculoskeletal Science, awarded in recognition of his contribution to the success of Stanmore Implants Worldwide Ltd, an innovative orthopaedic business focused on saving and restoring the function of limbs and joints. It designs, manufactures and markets a custom implant service with a portfolio of orthopaedic implants for limb salvage and complex joint replacement, and is known for creating some of the world’s most successful implants, including the Stanmore Hip. Stanmore Implants Worldwide was sold in February this year for £10 million;

•    London Entrepreneurs’ Challenge 2008: Winner – Daniel J Hulme, Alastair Moore, UCL Computer Science, for NPComplete. NPComplete’s service enhances the integrated circuit (IC) design process by providing superior algorithm services to Formal Verification tools. Formal Verification is one aspect of the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) industry that provides tools in the form of software applications used to design all of today’s electronic components and products;

•    UCL Advances Entrepreneurial Spirit Award 2008: Winner – Prof Alan Penn, Bartlett School of Graduate Studies. Awarded for his contribution to all the innovative and entrepreneurial activities he has carried out at UCL and the value that has created for research and teaching: consultancy, research, being a HEFCE Business Fellow, developing a start-up company – Space Syntax Ltd and, more recently, his involvement as lead academic in the £5m Urban Buzz project;

•    London Entrepreneurs’ Challenge 2008 Provost’s Prize – Threegoodmeals.com, a team consisting of students from UCL and London Business School,  that has developed a web application providing personalised nutritional information to UK consumers. The website will receive nutritional and customer data from supermarkets and eateries, allowing members to procure a nutritional breakdown of the exact food they have purchased;

“By putting together what we believe to be the first awards ceremony devoted to the recognition of a complete cross-section of a university’s’ enterprise activities, we wanted to ensure that a true picture of UCL’s successes and capabilities are represented,” says Tim Barnes, Executive Director of UCL Advances. UCL Advances is a unique initiative among UK universities that seeks to stimulate collaboration among researchers, business and investors driving innovations that benefit society and the economy.

“Three distinct areas of activity are recognised through the awards: firstly, some of the most successful commercial activity undertaken, including the development of Intellectual Property assets and the spin out of profitable and successful companies; second, activity that is less obviously commercial, but where the work has had significant benefits for UCL’s research and training; and third, activity that is still at the ideas stage, but that we believe have a significant prospect of successful application in the future.

“The awards recognise the successes of our academics and students, and will hopefully encourage others to get involved in the future. There is also an important message to the business world, that UCL is a leading hub of innovation and commercial activity, which can provide real competitive advantage, and they need to be aware of that.”