A team of Engineering Doctorate students from WMG have taken first place in the West Midlands heat of the Engineering Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (Engineering YES) and are through to the final in Birmingham on 20 June.

The competition is for UK-based postgraduate students and post-doctoral researchers to present a business plan for an imaginary startup company to a group of shrewd investors and industry experts. Participants learn the techniques of how to go about planning a new business venture and meet local entrepreneurs and business leaders who have done it for real before presenting their business plans to the panel.

The team from WMG spent three days at the event, working on their proposal and attending talks from academics and industry experts and meeting with their mentors. They had tough competition in teams from Loughborough University, University College London, Lincoln, Leicester, Huddersfield, and University of Birmingham, with ideas ranging from home lighting systems, better home insulation, an anti-bacterial paint for hospitals and a new nano-paint for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC).

Congratulations to Claire White, Matthew Pitts, Courtney Thornberry and Nicholas Higgins who were declared overall winners with their H2GO idea, based around the concept of a hydrogen modular fuelling station to integrate into the petrol station market in the UK.

For more information on the EngD International Programme please visit our website at go.warwick.ac.uk/wmgdoctorate