Winners proudly show off their awards

Awards mark Smart Solutions to the recession

A scheme set up to help businesses and individuals beat the recession has been celebrated with a special awards ceremony honouring some of its outstanding success stories.

Innovative entrepreneurs, graduates and businesses from across the South West attended the awards night for Smart Solutions, a scheme run by the University of Exeter.

Through the HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England) Economic Challenge Investment Fund and the regional Knowledge Escalator fund, the project set up partnerships between higher education and local businesses or projects.

Over the past two years this has seen more than 250 projects and more than 800 students benefit from sharing knowledge, expertise and resources to get a vital headstart in the tough economic times.

To recognise some of the highlights, a glittering awards ceremony was held at Sandy Park Conference & Banqueting Centre in Exeter.

Five awards were made:
 
Outstanding Impact in Science & Technology R&D Project
Enlightened Designs with Dr Clive Butler and Dr John Love – this project has seen the development and patenting of a new type of flat-panel photo-bioreactor. The innovative design enables algae growth in temperate climates at a much faster rate than conventional systems, which could potentially lead to a new source for energy and biomass.

Outstanding Impact in Social Science R&D Project
Aune Head Arts with Professor Tim Kendall, Dr Joanna Gill and Christine Faunch - Aune Head Arts are a Devon-based independent arts organisation who have been working with the University, Cyprus Well, Devon County Council and the National Trust on the Wordquest Devon project, which seeks to interpret and promote Devon’s literary culture.

Best Graduate Placement
Sparex, Theo McCaie (graduate in Physics) - Sparex were looking for an outstanding graduate to help develop an in-house sales order processing and warehouse management application. Theo McCaie, a first-class Physics graduate from the University of Exeter, was selected for the role and has made a major contribution to the success of the project.

Smart Solutions Student Entrepreneurship
George Taylor and James Symes met while studying at the University of Exeter, and they wanted to bring a niche product to market in mountain biking – their shared passion. They formed Drift-MTB and created armour plating for bike suspension forks. They recently gained some major publicity and now plan to fully develop their product range.

Outstanding Leadership Award
Mark Hannaford from Across the Divide – Mark is the co-founder of Across the Divide, an event management company providing unique personal and group experiences. Following a ‘Strategic Leadership and Management of Change’ programme delivered by the Business School with the assistance of Smart Solutions funding, Mark Hannaford has led a new product line at Across The Divide which offers organisations Corporate Social Responsibility experiences in the ‘real world’.

Sean Fielding, Director of Research & Knowledge Transfer at the University of Exeter said: “The awards ceremony was a fantastic night that showcased some of the great companies who have linked up with the University. The project was very successful in building partnerships to share expertiseand knowledge to help innovative ideas go forward.

“With such commitment, hard-work and imaginative thinking it was difficult to pick winners, and all those nominated can be proud of their achievements.”

Date: 14 December 2010