Entrepreneurial scholarship for UCL student

PhD student Adetokunbo secured 1 of just 15 places announced after presenting his business concept to an interview panel in London, having been originally short-listed from almost 70 students nominated by their Vice-Chancellors and Provosts.

All 15 students are part-way through degrees and post doctorates in engineering, scientific or technological subjects, but have applied to pursue a broad array of viable business ideas, from addressing environmental or health issues, to filling market gaps to advancing technology.

Studying with the UCL Communications Engineering Doctorate Centre, and based at the Adastral Park Campus, Adetokunbo is developing a new technique which will enable photographers to adjust and enhance the lighting in images online by transferring illumination from one image to another to remove unacceptable colour casts, for example, an image taken in early morning can be given the qualities of an afternoon scene. The technique, the Attention Driven Automatic Colour Correction Service, can currently be used to enhance images for mobile picture messaging, or photo enhancement web services on the Internet.

Adetokunbo will begin preparations for his visit to the US from early October, guided by the NCGE and supported by UCL. He will then spend six months in the US from January 2007, where he will interact with leading scholars and thinkers, policy leaders, innovative researchers, and business founders.  

The scheme will be tailored to each Fellow to ensure it meets their individual needs and knowledge gaps and helps them develop commercial know-how and relevant new business contacts.

At the end of the programme students will be expected to take what they've learnt back to the UK not only as a means of developing their own ideas but to share with other aspiring entrepreneurs and educators within their higher education institution and across their region.

Adetokunbo said: "I am delighted to have been selected as a Fellow. Being able to develop and pursue my business idea in both the UK and the US will be a great opportunity and give me the guidance I need to help mature my concept. It will be fascinating to learn about entrepreneurship in a country where it's held in such high esteem and I look forward to bringing the lessons back to share with my fellow students and across the university."

Top image: Lord Bilimoria with Adetokunbo

Below: Underwater scenario: First reference image in light blue light, second one in green light and third one corrected

• Links:
• UCL Communications Engineering Doctorate Centre
• National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship
• Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation