Back in October 2015 a team of 5 PhD students from the School of Biosciences including Siân Bailey (Wheatley Group), Stephen Hall, Matthew Tridgett, Julia Kraemer and Charles Moore-Kelly (Dafforn Group) won the regional heat of the Biotechnology Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (Biotechnology YES) competition.

After further improvement of their pitch for a fictional company called BubbleRipe and many practise runs they went to the final in London on the 10 December, where they were successful in winning the “Best Sustainable Innovation” prize. BubbleRipe's (hypothetical) business plan was for a unique and simple solution to address food wastage by allowing customers to ripen fruit at home at their convenience.

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