Management Science and Innovation

Four MSc Technology Entrepreneurship related companies have benefitted from investments totaling £37,000 at this year's annual Enterprise awards. The awards were made to:

poq studio - Michael Langguth and Øyvind Henriksen (MSc Technology Entrepreneurship 2010-2011). £12,000. This is a mobile e-commerce platform that allows fashion retailers to build their own app easily and cost-effectively. Michael says: “This award is recognition of our achievements so far as well as trust in our ability to go a lot further. We have been working hard for six months now, so the award also enables us to take the time we need to really prove our business and possibly raise further investment. We will spend the money on marketing and sales activities and also to pay for some personal expenses.”

faceEnergy - Nicolás Rebolledo and Felipe Escandon (MSc Technology Entrepreneurship 2011-12). £5,000. This is a user-centred energy management platform and marketplace that has grown out of its founders interest in 'all things internet-related' and energy issues. As governments are providing incentives in order to promote energy savings and people seem to be interested in reducing carbon footprint, the founders feel there are huge opportunities in this area,” says Felipe. “The award provides an endorsement from UCL and is recognition not only of our personal hard work but also the business idea and its potential.” The team will spend the money on product and web development and testing.

Sycle (now Jive) - Marcin Piatkowski (MSc Technology Entrepreneurship 2011-12). £15,000. The Jive bike is a light, stylish carbon-fibre, folding electric bike that comes
with a small portable device and a mobile application for smartphones, both of which are designed to run, control and navigate the bike. Marcin wanted to create a bike that was easy to use in a city and attractive for smart gadget lovers. He calls it “dynamic commuting, without the need to pedal.” He says: “This is our second award - we also won London Entrepreneurs Challenge in December 2011. We used that money (£5,000) to do more research about the opportunity. The money from the Bright Ideas award (£15,000) will be used mainly to build the first prototypes, which is quite capital consuming. This is the last stage before pitching to investors, who are already very interested in our project.”

WindowsPhoneGeek - Yordan Pavlov and Boryana Miloshevska (MSc Technology Entrepreneurship 2011-12).  WindowsPhoneGeek is a marketplace for Windows Phone app development components (and later Android) where developers can buy and sell components. Boryana says: “The Bright Ideas award is a recognition for all the effort and hard work that we have put in to the company, and it is also a great opportunity to take WindowsPhoneGeek to the next level.” Yordan and Boryana will use the money to accelerate the development of the project and take advantage of some important opportunities, such as the first Windows Phone development conference in San Francisco this October, where WindowsPhoneGeek is an official media partner.

Full details of the 2012 Annual Enterprise Awards can be read here and videos showing the award winners explaining their ideas are here