Issue link: https://htpgraphics.uberflip.com/i/1055210
"And we've been overwhelmed with entries during what was a tight timeline to develop value propositions around these entrants. "The applicants were all of a high standard and very passionate about commercialising their research. With that in mind it was important that we made sure all the finalists got some form of support from UMIP. They are all strong businesses and UMIP is intent on helping them achieve commercial success." He added: "Having said that we had to make a decision about who the recipients would be of the £10,000 prizes. "We felt that having sizeable commercial opportunities to go for, those companies where there was an urgent need to engage, and where £10,000 could make a real impact, should benefit. "We intend to build on this competition next year. ICE NINE's Matthew Nancekievill said: "We are aiming to sell a small educational robot to universities and design tech students and are also going to build an online web presence to create market credibility. "We are also going to talk to universities that are already interested in the product which will be followed by advertising the product to other universities and schools." He added: "It's been a fantastic competition. I started the process wanting to learn more and start my own company at some point. So,to actually get to the final, do the pitch and win is absolutely fantastic." John McNaught and Sophia Ananiadou of Eurimatics, said: "Winning this is very important because business funding is very hard to come by. "We will put this money to very good use to take what is currently a research prototype forward to a full product. "It's also very important to be working in partnership with UMIP as we are academics without business backgrounds." Norman Paton of Data Value Factory said: "What we are seeking to do is make it easier for data scientists to clean up and organise the data that they need in order to carry out analyses and gain insights into their data. "We have a plan to set up the company to market our data preparation software. "As a fledgling tech company we are building a minimum viable product, and will use the £10,000 to launch that and the website. "This initial launch will help us to improve our understanding of how people use the product in practice, and thus show us how best to develop and market it." You can see highlights of the competition and interviews with the winners on our UMIPTV channel. Applications close on 30th November for our second Next Big Thing competition for which the final will be held in February. Check our news feeds for the winners!