SES Entrepreneurs take-off in 2010

Prof Simon Cox, who organised the competition, explained "we are encouraging students to grow their innovative projects from the ideas stage into a working reality." This year three projects were awarded collective funding of £10,000, each receiving support from the University's Research and Innovation Services with regards to patent searching and business advice.

The judges, considered each project's innovation, market potential and financial viability, and were highly praised the quality of the entries and their enthusiasm for what they proposed. The panel of judges included Lars Lindstedt, Software Economist at Microsoft, who commented "It was particularly exciting to see such a wide range of innovative ideas being proposed by students at the University of Southampton and I was very impressed with the level innovation and business thinking behind the leading entries. I wish every future success to all of the teams."

Overall Winner George Dadd impressed the judges with his new concept in High Performance Sailing using kites. The relatively new sport of kite surfing is rapidly growing in popularity and has in recent years seen developments in technology that have made kites larger and more powerful, more stable, and more efficient - so much so, that it is thought that kite powered dinghies can outperform an equivalent conventional sail boat. With this in mind, George has developed a company called Kiote, aiming to bring kite powered racing dinghies to market. The first production kite boat prototype is in build and it is expected that the new craft will be fast and dynamic so that it provides the exhilaration of kite surfing, but with the ability to sail further offshore, and to sail in a single design racing fleet.

"The idea for the new boat was born in Weymouth harbour after spending a summer with kite and a board" George explains, "I had been fortunate to meet the makers of Vestas Sailrocket, a speed sailing team aiming to produce the fastest boat in the world. With my new found interest in high performance sailing craft, their designer Malcolm Barnsley had recommended Southampton's Maritime Engineering Masters course. Two weeks later I had enrolled. Five years on, and having embarked on further research into kite dynamics on the Eng Doc programme, a first kite boat prototype has been tried and tested, and the mark II prototype is soon to follow with a view to future commercialisation."

George encountered similar challenges to many start-up businesses, "it quickly became apparent that designing and building a boat is only a small part of successful product commercialisation. Good marketing and securing the right intellectual property are essential to making sales, and holding a place in the market. The take-off fund for new innovation has provided a tremendous boost to Kiote by helping to fund an international patent application, as well as contributing towards online marketing. I owe a debt of gratitude to the take-off organisers for making this possible."

Michal Lewandowski was also awarded in the competition for his Novel Methods for Electromagnetic Damping and Neil O'Brien and Steven Johnston for their development of Location Aware Smartphone Applications, an idea which is also now being supported by the Microsoft BizSpark initiative giving the enterprising duo access to special programmes and support.

Neil and Steven were inspired by software, technology and global communications which are enabling small companies to compete within a truly global market, in a way which was previously impossible, empowering people regardless of class, country or status. They faced a time consuming and complex process of incorporating a legal entity to develop their mobile applications and in Neil's words "The SES Entrepreneurship Competition provided us with an opportunity expand our skills and explore our potential in a global marketplace."

For further information about the SES Engineering Entrepreneurship Competition visit www.soton.ac.uk/ses/takeoff