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Major Support for Blueprint

Added 30th May 2006

BIG name firms are stepping forward with hard cash to back the UK's leading regional university business competition.

Major businesses in the region have signed up with thousands of pounds worth of prizes, including £10,000 in cash for each of the two top winners of Blueprint, the competition to find the best business ideas to come out of the North-East's universities. 

Law firm Dickinson-Dees; venture capitalists NStar Finance; the Service Network; the Centre of Excellence for Nanotechnology, Micro and Phototonic Systems, Cenamps; the County Durham Development Company; Insight Capital and One NorthEast have all come forward as early sponsors of the competition, now in its second year.

Competition organiser Professor Max Robinson, Enterprise Education Director at the North East Centre for Scientific Enterprise, said: "This year's competition has got off to a flying start. Once again we have some first class entries coming through with ideas for the kind of leading edge, high-value businesses which will really make a difference to this region.

"It's encouraging that such influential organisations and businesses recognise the importance of Blueprint and the importance of nurturing and encouraging the businesses that grow out of our universities. No other region in the UK has a competition like this."

Each of the region's five universities hold their own competitions to find the best business plans and the winners and runners-up go forward to Blueprint where judges will choose a general Business Winner and a Science and Technology Winner.

The winners, to be announced at a grand final dinner at the Newcastle/Gateshead Hilton on October 27, will each receive £10,000 cash and a further package of business support.

One Blueprint entrant is Jules Fosset, a Psychology Graduate from Hatfield College, who won the Durham University competition with her plan for her company Amoralia, which will launch the world's first range of maternity lingerie. (Modelled in photograph above.) She has had samples made, tested the market at the UK's leading lingerie trade shows in Harrogate and already has received her first orders.

She said: "I'm absolutely over the moon about winning the Durham heat. Apart from the great publicity it confirms that I'm on the right lines. I'm really excited to be representing Durham in Blueprint and I think the whole thing is such a great idea."

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