Blueprint finalists in the spotlight

Teesside finalists in the Blueprint Business Planning Awards shared the spotlight at a special ceremony.

The annual celebration of innovative business ideas, which is open to all staff, students, graduates and alumni, saw more finalists than ever selected to attend the University’s final, held at Middlesbrough Football Club’s Riverside Stadium.

A record five out of the total 16 finalists were members of staff who submitted innovative and original business plans to a panel of judges.

The next stop for five of the finalists is the regional Blueprint 2009 Final Awards to be held in Gateshead on 20 October. The eventual winners will walk away with a share of tens of thousands of pounds of professional support to help develop their vision into a commercial venture.

And the winners are….. Going through to the regional final is Nano Agrochemicals, winner of the Science & Technology category, along with runner-up STAR. Nano Agrochemicals, who are involved developing a non-toxic crop spray which aims to reduce costs and environmental damage, also won the General Business category and will be joined at the regional final by category runner-up Mango Creative Studio, whose plan focuses on online booking systems and website application development.

Also joining them at the regional final will be online creative company Design Mob, winners of the Creativity & Design category, along with runner-up Helen Gamesby Limited, whose plan involves producing a 3-D web-based learning platform.

A range of awards were also presented to finalists. These included the Tourism and Hospitality Award for The Burrito Bus, the Enviromental Award for Shine Electric Power, the Community Engagement Award for Crime Scene Forensics, Most Innovative Award for Ateliero, the Dare to be Different Award for Radha Creations and the Digital Technology Award for Mango Creative Studio.

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