UCL Enterprise Awards 2013 - Audio

Photosynthesis solves the problem of how to share your digital photos physically, as soon as you take them.

Photosynthesis is a lightweight, innovative photo printer that clips on to the back of your mobile phone and prints wirelessly. The accompanying mobile app enables users to customise and upload photos for real-time viewing. Photosynthesis allows family photos to regain a central role in people’s lives. It will give a physical presence to digital photography and deepen the enjoyment of social photography through photo customisation. It allows people to combine the process of photo-taking, modification, digital sharing and physical printing in one place and one time: here and now.

Goldsmid Professor of Mathematics, UCL Mathematics

Professor Frank Smith FRS is a world-leading applied mathematician who has engaged enthusiastically and effectively with many industrial partners during his career. The range and depth of activity has been remarkable in recent years involving a variety of partners (e.g Buhler-Sortex, QinetiQ, UK Sport, Unilever, AeroTex, TotalSim, EOARD) covering a wide range of applications (e.g food-sorting machines, aircraft safety, Olympic sports performance, shopping). Funding for research has come in many forms e.g. CASE awards, Faraday and KTN partnerships. This has provided a welcome boost in PhD numbers in the department, as well as forming a major part of UCL's UoA10 REF impact case studies.

HCP Infrastructure has been instrumental in driving forward Facility Management Enterprise research at UCL for many years.They are an SME working in healthcare and education infrastructure but the reach of their organisational supply chain is widespread. Through the company itself and its partner organisations HCP have been responsible for several commercial studentships, Engineering Doctorates and two Knowledge Transfer Partnerships.

In addition to this they have provided guest lectures, acted as ambassadors for UCL with overseas guests and have spoken at the “Bartlett Means Business” event, to promote enterprise generally within the Faculty.

Cisco is recognised for the length – and breadth – of their relationship with UCL. It’s origins lie with Prof Peter Kirstein in Computer Science over 30 years ago and that commitment is reflected today by the efforts of Prof Anthony Finkelstein, Dean of Engineering.

Last year, Cisco launched an International Internship Programme at UCL, with high level executive support from within the company, which gives an incredible fully funded opportunity to 5 undergraduate students from UCL Engineering each year. The students spend a year working at the company's Headquarters in San Jose, California.

Our first five students impressed and this year and next year they wish to take 20!

UCL and Cisco have an increasingly close corporate partnership, developing the innovative 'Future Cities Centre' with Imperial College and discussing a range of research collaborations.

And there have been further developments.

IDEA-London, an innovation 'hot-house' established by UCL, Cisco and DC Thomson, and announced by the Prime Minister last year. This will be a physical base in the TechCity area of London that will house and support a variety of new technology companies connected to UCL’s research and the partners’ business activities.

Silvina has been selected as winner for the UCL Best Mentor award for her efforts with four companies that she has been mentoring since she came on board as a mentor in the summer of 2012.

Silvina's background is in finance but she has also run her own ecommerce business for over 5 years and currently is on the board of another small company based in the mining sector. She is also in an angel investment group. The companies that she has mentored have all been in need of assistance in either pitching for finance or pitching to clients. She has been very hands on in helping to develop the companies' pitch and often this has required looking at the overall business and aligning the actions being carried out in the business with the pitch that is being delivered, ensuring that in both the pitch and the business there is a viable strategy. She is good at looking at both the big picture and at small details and is very reassuring to the business owners that she is there if they need her.

All have expressed how helpful she has been and in some instances she has even introduced businesses to her personal contacts in investment. Silvina has recently taken on her fourth business to mentor, WishBomb, showing a real dedication to helping right from the start of joining the mentoring programme.

Flat-Club is the world’s largest network of alumni & students of top universities looking for short term accommodation. Flat-Club is helping hosts and guests find people they trust within their existing social networks so hosts can generate extra income while away, and guests save up to 80% of hotel prices.

Launched in November 2010, Flat-Club quickly grew within a year from 5 flats in London to 2,000 flats worldwide and is already generating revenues.

Flat-Club is a proud member of the London Business School Incubator and has a team of 12 from 10 nationalities.

The consultancy team undertook a marketing strategy project to help Flat-Club’s executive management decide about the next phases for growing Flat-Club.

Working closely with the CEO the team looked for the reasons that made Flat-Club successful in its first year, and how to replicate the success in another niche market.

Flat-Club article: Another great day (or rather, night) for Flat-Club & UCL students to take home an award!

PassivSystems was selected for the successful interdisciplinary collaborations they have established across the University and the strong partnerships they have built with the Energy Institute, Computer Science and the UCL Interaction Centre.

To date this company has engaged with us through 3 KTPs over a 4 year period.

There were other strong contenders for the award but none matched the impressive breadth and depth of collaboration that the winner of this award has with UCL.

(Arthur Kay: final year BSc Architecture, Benjamin Harriman, March 2012)

Bio-bean will recycle coffee grounds into biodiesel and biomass pellets, using a unique combination of three existing ideas: waste collection, biomass pellet production and biodiesel production.

(Dhrupad Karwa: Final Year BSc Economics, Andrew Leung: Final Year BSc Economics, Neer Sharma: Final Year BSc Economics)

HaikuJAM is a web and mobile application through which people write haiku poems together, using photo-integration, competitions, “gamification” and other features. HaikuJAM provides creative people with a dynamic and colourful digital haiku writing platform.

(Ian Campbell: final year MSc Management)

Aero Forza produces high performance aerodynamically efficient designs for the radio-controlled car market, starting with aero components and bodyshells and for the 1/8th scale on-road RC car market.