Bright SCIdea Challenge offers STEM entrepreneurs free global business mentoring

2022 Competition now open for entries

Budding entrepreneurs with new scientific business ideas can now bring them to life by entering The Society of Chemical Industry’s (SCI) annual international business competition, Bright SCIdea.  The 2022 Challenge is now accepting expressions of interest from teams of STEM university students (both undergraduate and postgraduate).  Students will have the chance to showcase their business skills by developing a plausible scientific concept that can be commercialised for the benefit of society.

Students should apply in teams of three and four to receive free training to develop their business plan and detail how their idea can be taken to market. Teams will gain access to SCI’s global network of innovators before shortlisted teams are invited to pitch to a panel of industry experts.  There is a £5,000 prize for the winning entry when the final takes place on 15 March 2022.

Last year, team Metallogen from UCL were the winners with the concept of restoring the fertility of heavy metal ion rich farmland. The judges said the team would benefit from the £5,000 investment to get their trials underway. In 2019, the winning team was Plastech Innovation (now Sphera). Building on the Bright SCIdea success, Sphera now develop carbon negative and carbon zero materials for the construction industry

Sharon Todd, SCI CEO said:

“As SCI prides itself on being the place where science meets business, Bright SCIdea is our flagship competition.  Societies need science innovation as never before and this challenge helps nurture the STEM entrepreneurs and ground breaking innovations of the future.”

The deadline for the first wave of applicants is 1 November 2021. Teams can also register their interest via the website or directly via the application form and will be invited to the online business training on 9 November and 2 December. Prospective teams can also sign up to a short free webinar on Thursday 23 September at 14:00 to learn more about this year’s Bright SCIdea competition and how to apply. To register, contact BrightSCIdea@soci.org.

A summary of the 2020 event final can be found here: https://www.soci.org/news/2020/11/bright-scidea-final-2020 and further information about the competition can be found on our website.