It was great to see so many taking the chance to pitch. It takes courage to stand on stage and share an idea and I was impressed to see the calibre of pitches even at such an early stage. We have students, staff and alumni passionate about solving such a wide range issues, it's truly inspiring to see. I'm excited to see what all out pitchers will go on to do and hope to see many of them continuing to develop their ideas with the Entrepreneurship Institute's support.
Rachel Stockey, Head of Entrepreneurial Skills
20 November 2023
Idea Factory Competition returns with Open Pitch Night
A new event format saw 34 teams from across King’s College London pitch their early-stage ideas.
An audience of 100+ people packed into the 8th Floor of Bush House to watch the Entrepreneurship Institute’s (EI) Idea Factory Competition return with an Open Pitch Night.
The new event format invited students, staff and alumni from across King's to deliver 90-second pitches in front of a judging panel, featuring: Rachel Stockey (Head of Entrepreneurial Skills), Olivia Hylton-Pennant (Founder of Sistren) and Anthony Paine (Founder of Stashbee and EI Entrepreneur in Residence).
With no previous experience, prep or slides required, pitching slots were allocated on a first come first serve basis and invited everyone passionate about problem solving, to share their potential solutions.
Each pitcher will receive a 1:1 mentoring session with a member of the EI team, to support the development of their idea moving forwards. 10 x £250 prizes were also available for the most compelling pitches, which came from:
| Chid Nyirenda and Hope Dandjinou | Students | Business Management BSc (King's Business School) and Psychology BSc (Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience) |
| Chris Attoe | Staff | Researcher (Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience) |
| Eric Cui Wu | Student | Nutrition & Dietetics BSc (Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine) |
| Immanuel Rajadurai | Student | Computer Science BSc (Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences) |
| Jas Wilks | Alumna | Strategic Entrepreneurship & Innovation MSc (King's Business School) |
| Mahd Siddiqi and Reece Khan | Students | Medicine (Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine) |
| Pranay Agrawal | Student | Strategic Entrepreneurship & Innovation MSc (King's Business School) |
| Ricardo Isaac Quintero Sánchez | Student | STEM Education MA (Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy) |
| Sneha Chotaliya | Student |
PhD in Research (Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences) |
| Tony Lamy | Student | Strategic Entrepreneurship & Innovation MSc (King's Business School) |
Idea Factory is King’s flagship early-stage ideas competition. It empowers budding entrepreneurs within the King’s community to showcase their new ideas, which have the potential to grow into viable and successful businesses.
Ideas pitched on the night covered solutions to a range of problems including reducing waste, improving the quality of mental health services, building community, and improving diet.
The prize money will enable the winners to test their ideas further, whether that’s in the form of market research, building a prototype, buying equipment for testing, incentives for customer research, marketing and more.
Idea Factory will return in 2024. Register your interest in next year’s competition and be the first to receive updates.
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Head of Entrepreneurial Skills