Southampton graduate students pitch to dragons at Cambridge Innovation Forum
Five students studying for PhDs in the Faculty of Medicine were recently selected to pitch their business idea to a panel of venture capitalist ‘dragons’ at the Cambridge Innovation Leaders Conference.
The team – Cameron Black, David Gibbs, Agnieszka Janeczek, Nunzia Sposito, and Patrick Stumpf – fought off competition from around the world to present their idea of a device, called ‘VitalObs’ for monitoring the health of patients in intensive care.
Bob Pettigrew, an angel investor with more than 30 years’ experience in the development of emerging businesses, and who led the panel of five dragons, said ‘We were incredibly impressed with the teams. Rarely in my professional experience have I seen such quality. Every one of the teams has got a chance – stick at it!’.
Nunzia Sposito, who pitched the idea said ‘It was fascinating to meet such high calibre people, a true inspiration for my future!’.
Nick Evans
, lecturer and enterprise fellow in the Faculty of Medicine said, ‘the team showed exceptional talent to be selected from such a competitive field, and provided a thoroughly convincing pitch. They were unlucky not to win outright.’
The
Cambridge Innovation Leaders Conference
ran from the 27-28 February, providing a number of talks and workshops to facilitate student and academic interaction with large biotech firms, SMEs, policy makers and inspiring innovators. Luminaries including
Prof Sir Greg Winter
and
Prof Chris Lowe
addressed and inspired the attendees during the exciting 2-day event.
The trip was funded by the
Faculty International and Enterprise group
.