Win a share of cash and other
prizes worth £30,000!
prizes worth £30,000!
What’s your Big idea?
Whether it’s for a business, a social project, a creative experience or anything else you can imagine, we want to know about it! You could win a share of cash and other prizes worth £30,000 that we have up for grabs!
The competition is open to all London Met students, graduates and staff, and our 3 competition categories – Creative, Commercial & Social Impact – mean that you can enter any type of idea, whether it’s an exciting new business, a mind-blowing creative experience, or a worthwhile social project. The ideas you can enter are limited only by your imagination!
Why enter?
Each year we’ve awarded more than £30,000 in cash and other prizes to London Met students and graduates with the best Big Ideas.
We’ll give you the tools to spot exciting business opportunities and determine the potential of your idea. You’ll have the chance to meet real entrepreneurs who have turned their ideas into reality and receive coaching to take your idea to the next level.
Finalists can also win a place in our prestigious Launchpad programme.
Who can enter?
You can! All students and graduates of London Metropolitan University – from all schools. Whether you’re a creative designer with an incredible new product, a business student who’s spotted a commercial opportunity, or a science student working on a research project that could help society. And following on from its success in 2015, we’ve even got a category exclusively for staff!
Lastly, you can either enter as an individual, or band together with friends and enter as a team of up to 4 people.
Categories
Commercial
Ideas with the potential to become successful commercial businesses. We want to see ideas that are innovative, have a large potential market and add value people will be prepared to pay for.
Social Impact
Ideas that will have a positive impact on our communities and the world beyond. This could be an environmental, social or other not-for profit idea that helps those who need it most.
Creative
Do you have an idea for a new product, an exhibition, or a way to make our city more vibrant? Or perhaps you have an idea that will help creative people reach new audiences and be more successful.
Register your interest
If you’re interested in London Met’s Big Idea Challenge, you’re in the right place. The competition runs between January and April every year. We’ll next be accepting entries for the 2021 competition. If you’re interested in taking part in the next edition, or simply want to find out more, complete the form below and we’ll email you when we open for entries.
Big Idea Awards 2020
Who was crowned as our Grand Champion? Who won the People’s Choice vote?
Meet the winners and finalists of this year’s Big Idea Challenge
Past Big Ideas
Ruthy’s Best Shito Sauce
Ruth Baidoo
Food For Good category winner in 2020 and featured by BBC Good Food. A percentage of the profits go towards SpeakOut, a programme founded by Ruth to help women affected by sexual violence.
Newport Works
Song Eng
Creative category winner in 2017 and successfully launched through crowdfunding. Modern portfolios built to last through creative careers. “Your work deserves better.”
Trim It
Nathan Maalo & Darren Tenkorang
Commercial category winner from 2017. UK first mobile barbershop offering a razor-sharp customer experience with convenience and class.
Dottore London
Giorgia Bacco
The overall winner in 2014 was Dottore London: “the first gynaecological clinic for Italian women living in London.”
WÜ: Bring the bar to you
Nathaniel Amish and Niah
Tired of queuing for a drink? Wü is an app that allows you to order and pay for your drinks via your mobile device, making the queue a thing of the past.
Belle of the Bows
Sophie Holden
A platform for cheerleaders and customers to design their own hair bows. Make your team stand out each season with unique and individualised bows!
Doggy Lock
Elise Harrison
Doggy Lock is a lockable lead and collar so you can safely lock your dog outside; delivering peace of mind to pet owners and reducing dog theft.
Just Honest Cosmetics
Tom Dolman
Just Honest Cosmetics is a completely natural and vegan line of cosmetics so you know exactly what you’re putting on to your skin!
The Wanderlost
Nicole Page & Whitney Papa
A mentorship-led cafe and bakery project which places young care-leavers at the centre of the cafe’s business and operations.