About the New Enterprise Competition
Timetable
Information for entrants
Sponsorship
Past winners
The New Enterprise Competition 2014
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The New Enterprise Competition (NEC) is our flagship business idea challenge. The competition is open to students, staff, and alumni who have graduated within five years of the competition year. Whilst there are different stages to the competition all you really need is an original idea for self-sustaining business.
It’s open to both commercial and social enterprises, and includes everything from simple conceptual ideas through to businesses in their first year of trading.
Throughout the competition we provide educational events, opportunities to get feedback and support, and the chance to meet all kinds of useful contacts.
Each year the total prize pot is around £35,000, all kindly donated by our sponsors. This includes cash prizes, packages of legal support, and business acceleration services.
Timetable
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NEC 2014 is introducing two new early-stage feedback panels for ideas, in the autumn and spring. This is essentially to help ideas develop in readiness for the main competition. However, we do also have small grants available to help develop and prove business ideas in readiness for the main competition.
(Further dates to be confirmed)
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The New Enterprise Fund: Round One
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Oct 2013
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Launch round one of the New Enterprise Fund, calling for undergraduate, postgraduate and staff submissions.
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4th Dec 2013
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Round one panel review awarding packages of support and funding (grants of up to £1000 max).
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The New Enterprise Fund: Round Two
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Jan 2014
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Launch of round two, calling for undergraduate, postgraduate and staff submissions.
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11th Mar 2014
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Round two panel review, awarding packages of support and funding (grants of up to £2000 max).
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The New Enterprise Competition 2014
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Mar 2014
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Launch of the New Enterprise Competition 2014, calling for business plan submissions from students, staff and alumni.
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May 2014
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Panel review to shortlist finalist and award packages of support and funding (grants of up to £1000 max).
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Oct 2014
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Final pitch to judging panel ahead of the annul enterprise dinner.
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Nov 2014
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The Enterprise Dinner 2014, at which all finalists showcase projects followed by awards ceremony.
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Information for entrants
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The opportunity to get professional advice, feedback, and mentoring is valuable to all those who take part, arguably more so than the prizes. Even those who don’t go on to win gain a lot from simply being involved in the competition.
Overview of entrant eligibility:
• Round 1 (Oct-Dec 2013)
Eligible entrants must be current students or staff members at the UoB.
• Round 2 (Jan-Mar 2014)
Eligible entrants must be current students or staff members at the UoB.
• Round 3 - New Enterprise Competition 2014 (Mar-Nov 2014)
Eligible entrants must be a current student or staff member at the UoB or have graduated from the University of Bristol since 2008.
Find out how to enter the competition.
Sponsorship
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In 2013 we were generously sponsored by: Deloitte, EADS, IP Group, Marketest, Motorola Solutions UK, Santander, SETsquared Business Accleration, Veale Wasbrough Vizards, and Wyvern Seed Fund.
We work to ensure that our sponsors benefit from brand exposure, press coverage, networking opportunities and the chance to contribute to the NEC judging processes.
For details on sponsoring NEC 2014 view our Sponsorship agreement form (PDF, 219Kb)
Please contact Rhys Pearce (rhys.pearce@bristol.ac.uk) to discuss sponsorship in further detail.
Past winners
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In 2013 the Competition was won by Postgraduate student Tom Carter and his business 'Ultrahaptics'. You can read about all the winners on the University news pages.
If you need even more inspiration, see our list of past winners!
University research pages