King's business plan competition launched
Posted on 12/10/2010
Reggie
King's graduates and post doctoral researchers have an opportunity to make a difference via the Lion’s Den business plan competition launched this week. Participants have the chance to win prizes with a total value of £10,000 if they enter this programme which is a joint initiative between King’s Business and King’s Graduate School.
Fiona Denney, Head of Graduate Development in King's College Graduate School, said: ‘Our flagship training programme, which is in its fourth year, continues to offer participants a way to increase their employability and to develop a suite of transferable skills such as team working and communication and business acumen relevant to career paths in academia, government, voluntary or public sector. Via the competition, participants benefit from a high quality training programme with input from external speakers from business and with King’s alumni acting as mentors.’
Alison Campbell, Managing Director of Kings’ Business comments: ‘This competition encourages staff and students to critically investigate the commercial potential of their research or to develop a business idea from personal interests. It encourages participants to take knowledge created in the University beyond the boundaries of the academy and to create a positive impact on society. Last year’s winners included ‘B Stable’ with the ‘B- Walker’, a hands free mobility device for seniors, and ‘GradFunding’ who are aiming to offer services to students seeking sources of funding for postgraduate studies; both ideas with great potential to generate positive economic and societal impact. We anticipate that Lion’s Den 2010-11 will bring forth another crop of innovative and exciting business ideas from across all areas of the College.’
The Business Plan Competition is launched today (Tuesday 12 October at 17.45, at Edmond J. Safra Lecture Theatre, Strand Campus) at an event which includes a panel made up of successful King’s entrepreneurs and past winners of the competition, who have taken their business idea further. The panel, who will share their experience of starting up a business and who will answer questions from the audience, will include: Dr Massimo Barcellona, Dr Jason Mellad and Dr Jeroen Bergman, founders of B-Stable; Dr Alexander Kapustin, Indica, winners of 2008-9 King’s College London Commercialisation Prize; Zain Jaffer, founder of KCLBC and graduate of the NASA Singularity Programme and Lynne Hunt from Rawlinson & Hunter, Chartered Accountants, who have supported this initiative since its inception.
For further information and to register for the competition contact Harriet Robinson: email harriet.robinson@kcl.ac.uk or tel: 020 7848 3196.
Notes to editors
King’s Business
King’s Business is the wholly-owned subsidiary company of King’s College London that enables innovation and impact through the way in which King’s knowledge is shared with business, the public and charitable sectors and creative and cultural organisations. The team supports the development of relationships with these sectors through research collaborations, consultancy, executive education, the protection and licensing of IPR and the creation of new ventures. For more information visit www.kcl.ac.uk/business
King's College London
King's College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (2010 QS international world rankings), The Sunday Times 'University of the Year 2010/11' and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King's has nearly 23,000 students (of whom more than 8,600 are graduate students) from nearly 140 countries, and some 5,500 employees. King's is in the second phase of a £1 billion redevelopment programme which is transforming its estate.
King's has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise for British universities, 23 departments were ranked in the top quartile of British universities; over half of our academic staff work in departments that are in the top 10 per cent in the UK in their field and can thus be classed as world leading. The College is in the top seven UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of nearly £450 million.
King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, the sciences (including a wide range of health areas such as psychiatry, medicine, nursing and dentistry) and social sciences including international affairs. It has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA and research that led to the development of radio, television, mobile phones and radar. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe; no university has more Medical Research Council Centres.
King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are part of King's Health Partners. King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering global collaboration between one of the world's leading research-led universities and three of London's most successful NHS Foundation Trusts, including leading teaching hospitals and comprehensive mental health services. For more information, visit: www.kingshealthpartners.org.
Further information
Public Relations Department
Email: pr@kcl.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7848 3202