| Tomorrow's Planet bold and innovative entrepreneurial ideas that address the major challenges of the 21st Century (Kongress) |
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| Wann? | 29.11.2007 - 29.11.2007 | ||||||||
| Wo? | GB- Oxford University, University Oxford | ||||||||
| Was? | The Oxford University 21st Century Challenge Competition
The UK's largest international business plan competition for innovative social and environmental businesses Grand Final Event 29th November 2007, 12.45 - 7.00pm - see programme details in Notes Saïd Business School, University of Oxford (immediately next to Oxford Railway Station) A new green technology to replace polystyrene in insulation which uses a living organism to form biodegradable and entirely natural material; a simple piece of software which eliminates the waste paper generated in printing emails, saving energy and CO2 emissions; and inexpensive solar-powered lanterns for millions of people in the developing world, replacing unhealthy oil-filled lights. These are the shortlisted entrepreneurial ideas in the Tomorrow's Planet track of the Oxford University 21st Century Challenge Competition which will take place on 29 November at Saïd Business School. Almost 60 entries were received in this category from teams around the world, with ideas ranging from the world's lowest carbon footprint fuel; an easy to fit aerodynamic device for freight trucks which reduces fuel consumption and emissions; and a unique process that produces liquid hydrogen without the production of CO2. The three finalists have been selected by a first round panel of external expert judges and will go forward to the grand final where they present their business plans to a panel of judges before an audience of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, policy makers, academics and corporate guests. You are invited to join this final. The 21st Century Challenge, the largest such competition in the UK, is designed to encourage commercial solutions to help solve the major social and environmental challenges of the 21st Century. The competition attracted 182 entries from 23 countries, with the greatest number from UK, USA, India, Kenya and China. Participants had to submit a five page business plan focusing on one of the three challenge tracks: Tomorrow's People - business ideas covering healthcare and medical challenges; sponsored by Grant Thornton Tomorrow's Planet - business ideas covering environmental challenges; sponsored by NESTA Tomorrow's Wealth - business ideas covering social inequality and distribution of wealth challenges Fiona Reid, Director of Entrepreneurship Saïd commented: 'The aim of the competition is to inspire entrepreneurs to tackle complex 21st Century challenges by setting up innovative commercial ventures. We are delighted with the response we have had and with the broad range of business ideas that have been submitted for each track. Entries have increased by over a third on last year and this is now definitely the biggest such competition in the UK, and probably Europe, and the only one we know with this specific approach of using profitable business ideas to solve these big global challenges.' The judging panel for the grand final includes: Professor Steve Rayner, James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization (Chair) Alan Duncan, DFJ Esprit Keith Evans, PricewaterhouseCoopers Jonathan Guthrie, Financial Times Wendy Hart, Grant Thornton Ravi Kapur, NESTA Mike Mason, Climate Care Antony Ross, Bridges Ventures Nicholas Pitts-Tucker, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) Richard Sanders, Permira A first prize of £35,000 will be awarded to the overall winner of the competition, along with three runners-up prizes of £10,000 to be awarded to each of the track winners. Finalists from the previous Oxford Business Plan competitions, including six of Oxfordshire's thriving bioscience companies, have gone on to great successes, raising millions in venture finance and flotation. The finalists are available for interview. You are invited to attend the final of the competition. Please see below for the full programme: the Tomorrow's Planet finalists will present between 12.50 and 14.05. Live web streaming of the event will be available here. For further details, or to attend, please contact the Saïd Business School Press Office: Clare Fisher, Head of Public Relations, Saïd Business School Direct telephone: +44 (0) 1865 288851 Mobile: +44 ( 0) 7912 771090 Email: clare.fisher@sbs.ox.ac.uk Josie Powell, Public Relations Coordinator Direct telephone: +44 (0) 1865 288403 Email: josie.powell@sbs.ox.ac.uk Notes to editors About the competition The 21st Century Challenge Competition is open to any applicants internationally. The entries must be commercial, sustainable new ventures. Entries can be made under the following headings: Tomorrow's Planet - business ideas covering environmental challenges Tomorrow's People - business ideas covering healthcare and medical challenges Tomorrow's Wealth - business ideas covering social inequality and distribution of wealth challenges Applicants were required to submit an Executive Summary of their idea by Friday 12th October 2007. First round judges score each entry and a short listing team will reduce the field to 9 finalists (three from each category). The final of the competition will be held at the School on 29th November 2007. The nine finalists will present their applications to a judging panel before an audience of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, policy makers, academics and corporate guests. The prize fund totals £65,000. A first prize of £35,000 will be awarded by Permira to the overall winner of the competition, along with three runners-up prizes of £10,000 to be awarded to the winner of each challenge track. Sponsors include Permira, NESTA, Grant Thornton, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and DFJ Esprit. Event programme 12.30 onwards: Arrival & Registration 12:45: Introduction Tomorrow's Wealth Track 12.50 Email Emblems 13.15 Honey Care Africa 13.40 Loxodonta 14.05 tea break and discussion Tomorrow's People Track 14:45 Novarix 15:10 Red Button Design 15.35 Tactile Response 16:00 Tea break and discussion Tomorrow's Planet Track 16.30 Ecovative Design 16.55 Greenlight Planet 17.20 GreenPrint 17.45 - 18.45: Networking & drinks while Judges confer in private 18.45 - 19.00: Awards announcement About Saïd Business School Established in 1996 the Saïd Business School is a full service business school and one of Europe's newest and fastest growing business schools. An integral part of Oxford University, the School embodies the academic rigour and forward thinking that has made Oxford a world leader in education. The School has an established reputation for research in a wide range of areas, including finance and accounting, organisational analysis, international management, strategy and operations management. The school is dedicated to developing a new generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs and conducting research not only into the nature of business, but the connections between business and the wider world. In the Financial Times ranking of MBA programmes (Jan 07), Saïd again improved its position and is ranked 19th in the world. This achievement follows the School's success in HM Treasury's 2005 ranking of the top 50 MBA programmes in the world, where it finished number one out of all the UK business schools. In the university league table published by The Guardian (May 2007), Saïd ranked first of all UK universities for undergraduate business. The University of Oxford also ranked top for business studies in The Times report published in August 2007. For more information, see www.sbs.ox.ac.uk. |
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