The Ronjon Nag Entrepreneurship Competition is a £5,000 prize for the student tech project or business idea with the strongest commercial potential. Students from any discipline or level of study across the University were invited to enter the competition over the summer, and for the first time new graduates were also encouraged to take part. The Competition was made possible thanks to the generosity of Birmingham alumnus Dr Ronjon Nag.
The Competition aims to support the entrepreneurial spirit of students and new graduates who have developed a strong business idea over the course of their studies. The judges were particularly keen to receive entries from students who had developed great ideas through their design or final year undergraduate projects, Masters projects or doctoral research, plus ideas that have come from society activities or event early stage start-up enterprises. The only criteria for submissions was that projects needed to involve technology or e-commerce. The competition was held in September and Ronjon Nag was on the judging panel.
Applicants all received coaching and support in developing their proposal courtesy of BEnterprising to help develop both their business plans and presentation skills. Finalists were then invited to pitch to a panel of expert entrepreneurs, including Dr Nag, and an audience of alumni from across the world during a virtual event in September.
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Dr Haroon Ahmad and Dr Noreen Akram, both 2020 Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery graduates and their company EczemaDoc
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Michael Haydock, MEng Mechanical Engineering, 2020 for a Soil Tunnelling Device
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Arvydas Kubilius, BSc Computer Science with Industrial Year, 2020
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Kacper Kielak, BSc Computer Science, 2019 for Investd
Dr Haroon Ahmad and Dr Noreen Akram, both 2020 Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery graduates and their company EczemaDoc
Michael Haydock, MEng Mechanical Engineering, 2020 for a Soil Tunnelling Device
Arvydas Kubilius, BSc Computer Science with Industrial Year, 2020
Kacper Kielak, BSc Computer Science, 2019 for Investd
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Joe Maliszewski, MSc Advanced Computer Science student for a Landfill Robot
Joe Maliszewski, MSc Advanced Computer Science student for a Landfill Robot
Michael Haydock for his soil tunnelling device!
Michael Haydock from the School of Engineering beat off his fellow competitors to win the Ronjon Nag Competition Final 2020 with his creation: The Soil Tunnelling Device.
Michael first heard about the Competition through an EPS Community email advert, and figured his final year project might be relevant. His task was to design a device for 50mm small tunnelling applications such as trenchless utility line installation; a piece of equipment which has exceptional global demand due to the expansion of 5G and energy networks in particular. He focused on making improvements to an existing method called impact moling, which can dig straight tunnels using a bore propelled by a reciprocating impact piston powered by an external compressor.
Michael’s main innovation was for a more efficient propulsion system which could recycle the compressed gasses propelling the piston to steadily return it to reset. This was achieved by enabling the rotation of the impact piston to control 3 gas-transfer ports, with the piston guided by a slot-and-pin system. By attempting this, there was a chance it may improve on existing designs relying on spring or air-cushion systems to reset the piston, since both act as a constant force against the impact stroke to reduce its momentum. It also improves on existing concepts for recyclable systems which are more complex and rely on intricate valves and air passages, as my design is much easier to manufacture and assemble.
Speaking about his experience Michael said, “It was a huge honour and a real surprise to hear I’d been nominated as a finalist, and I had a busy ten days preparing my presentation. I went to a lot of effort to validate my concept mathematically and also optimise the design’s piston cycle rate, and when I compared my results against the market leading products I found that my design performed very well against them. I focused my pitch on these findings to show that my design was both viable and competitive, and I hoped this would give me the edge over the projects from other disciplines.”
The competition attracted a record number of students participating for a chance to win the £5,000 prize for their business or technical idea. Due to restrictions brought on by COVID-19, the final judging panel was held over zoom to a virtual audience of alumni from across the world.
Michael said of the event: “It was a little daunting being virtually introduced to all the other finalists and various distinguished alumni and other guests. Going into the presentations I had a lot of support from my friends which really eased my nerves, although I still managed to speak so fast that I finished my pitch 30 seconds earlier than any of my practise runs.”
He went on to say, “I was impressed at how advanced the other finalists were with commercialising their ideas and I really believed I had no chance of winning after hearing their pitches, but apparently my project showed the most potential as a pure concept. It’s proven to me that I have a great idea on my hands, and I’m now working to realise it fully and progress it to market as the other finalists have done with their own ideas.”
The other finalists also commented about their experience of the competition. "It was thrilling experience to pitch to some of the world leaders in tech innovation. A rare and exciting opportunity" – said Joseph Maliszewski, Advanced Computer Science Masters student.
Arvydas Kubilius, new Computer Science graduate, also commented, “The Ronjon Nag Competition blew all my expectations away, the quality of the alumni present combined with the chance to network with them and get feedback for our idea, has been instrumental in pushing our idea forward. I would highly recommend the competition for anyone who is having thoughts about entrepreneurship!”
Michael ended by saying, “I’d like to thank everyone involved again, especially the organisers, Dr Ronjon Nag for sponsoring the prize, and my project supervisor Dr Richard Hood for finding the time to attend. I’d also like to mention the other finalists Dr Haroon Ahmad, Arvydas Kubilius and Joseph Maliszewski, who all had incredible presentations and I wish them all success with developing their businesses.”
Well done to all the deserving finalists and congratulations to our 2020 winner Michael! We look forward to seeing the great business and tech ideas for next year’s competition.
Ronjon is a Birmingham Electrical Engineering graduate (BSc Electronic & Electrical Engineering, 1984) and expert in AI, biotech and wireless communications. He is passionate about supporting innovative ideas that could become real business opportunities and created this competition to help students’ commercial ideas come to life.
You can read more about the Ronjon Nag Entrepreneurship Competition on the University’s Alumni Website at https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/alumni/news/items/2020/ronjon-thinks-big-for-student-entrepreneurs.aspx