This year’s Big Idea Challenge has once again blown us away, having uncovered a treasure trove of amazing ideas and the passionate people behind them. More than 200 London Met students, graduates and staff entered this year, and the level of entry was really high!
After entrants attended our Big Idea bootcamp day and pitched their ideas in 60 seconds, we narrowed our semi-finalists down to 15 amazing finalists. Due to the diversity of our finalists ideas entered this year, we split the commercial category into two separate categories for physical and digital products and created a brand new category specifically for socially conscious food products and services.
After this stage finalists would normally have their pitches professionally filmed and present to an expert judging panel. The quarantine means this has not been possible and that unfortunately we likely won’t be together for the planned final awards ceremony. However it has given us an opportunity to develop our programmes in new and innovative ways.
A new and exciting opportunity for 2020
We are pleased to announce that this has given us a positive opportunity to offer our Big Idea finalists more detailed support on validating their ideas, before applications open for our summer Launchpad programme.
Launchpad is London Met’s flagship business start-up programme. Delivered in one-day sprints over 12 intensive weeks from June to September, it gives passionate early stage entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools and support needed to fast track an idea into a viable startup venture. Launchpad helps participants navigate this journey through a carefully considered programme which addresses key startup topics (such as idea testing, validation and viability), whilst utilising knowledgeable experts and experienced industry mentors.
With an increase in our availability to offer participant feedback, we will also be expanding the number of places on the Launchpad programme. If you would like to take part, or simply find out more, you can apply now. If you want to simply discuss a business idea, we have virtual 1:1 sessions available that you can book now and speak with our business advisors.
Meet London Met’s Big Idea Challenge 2020 finalists
We are pleased to announce our Big Idea Challenge 2020 finalists below and look forward to their final pitches to the judges once we are back on campus and at Accelerator.
Commercial Category (Physical products & services)
Roya Ghasemirad
Nutty Date Truffles
Roya is an 1st year Student from London Met’s school of Human Sciences and is entering her idea Nutty Date Truffles.
Oanese Le Maout
Amate, Love Yourself
Oanese is an alumni from London Met’s school of Human Sciences and is entering her idea Amate, Love Yourself: dietary supplements formulated with Yerba Mate.
Ella Merriman
Merri
Ella is an alumni from The Cass, London Met’s school of Art, Architecture and Design and is entering her idea Merri – Sustainable and beautiful underwear promoting vaginal health.
Commercial Category (Web, digital & tech)
Arlindo Almada
Smart Student Assistant
Arlindo is a 3rd year Student from London Met’s school of Computing and Digital Media and entering his idea Smart Student Assistant.
Maksym Brych
Lecture Scriber
Maksym is an 3rd year Student from London Met’s school of Business and Law is entering the idea Lecture Scriber.
Alexander Gladilin
Transolved
Alexander is a current student from London Met’s school of Computing and Digital Media and is entering his idea Transolved: data-driven solution for the smoother transport inspections in ports.
Creative Category
Armaghan Fatemi
Art for Everyone
Armaghan is a 3rd year Student from The Cass, London Met’s school of Art, Architecture and Design (incl. The LSA) is entering Art for Everyone.
Lionel Giordano
An eco friendly, Economic and Efficient, Interchangeable Drafting Instrument.
Lionel is an Alumni from The Cass, London Met’s school of Art, Architecture and Design (incl. The LSA) is entering an idea for an eco friendly, economic and efficient, interchangeable drafting instrument.
Liga Putre
UrinEgg
Liga is a 1st year Student from The Cass, London Met’s school of Art, Architecture and Design (incl. The LSA) and is entering the idea UrinEgg.
Food For Good Category
Giancarlo Cristea
Sustainable Mushroom Farm in Urban Environment
Giancarlo is a current student from London Met’s school of Social Sciences and is entering his idea Sustainable Mushroom Farm in Urban Environment.
Ruth Baidoo
Shito Sauce
Ruth is a current student from London Met’s school of Social Professions and is entering her idea Shito Sauce.
Maithi Ho
Nipa Palm project
Maithi is a 3rd year Student from London Met’s school of Human Sciences and is entering the idea Nipa Palm project.
Social Impact Category
Manda Pawelczyk
Helping vulnerable women heal their past and build a future
Manda is a 3rd year student from The Cass, London Met’s school of and is entering her idea for supporting women in London who have experienced sexual assault.
Carolyn Birrell
Supporting women in London who have experienced sexual assault
Carolyn is a 1st year student from London Met’s school of Social Professions and is entering her idea for supporting women in London who have experienced sexual assault.
Nisha Taylor
Inclusion to Thrive
Nisha is a 2nd year student from London Met’s school of Social Professions and is entering the idea Inclusion to Thrive.
Staff Category
Heather McDonough
The East End Photo Booth
Heather McDonough is a fine art photographer and member of staff at London Met who is entering her idea for The East End Photo Booth.
Alexandros Chrysikos
Soundshare
Dr Alexandros Chrysikos is a senior lecturer and researcher in Cyber Security with the School of Computing and Digital Media at London Met, and is entering his idea Soundshare – a music app for sharing songs offline with added data analytics capabilities.
Chris Morriss-Roberts
A journey through LMU: Documentary
Dr Christopher Morriss-Roberts is a member of staff at London Met who is entering his idea for A journey through London Metropolitan University: Documentary