Lancaster University

This is archived news from Lancaster University. You can find up-to-date stories in our current news section.

China-UK Entrepreneurship Competition semi-finalists face the ‘dragons’

04/25/2008 11:09:27

The semi-final of the 2008 China-UK Entrepreneurship Competition is being held at Lancaster University Management School on Friday, April 25 where the eight semi-finalists will present their business plans to a ‘Dragons’ Den’ style judging panel.

Two semi-finalists will beam their presentations in by video-conference from ChongqingCity and TsinghuaUniversity (Beijing) in China, while the other six from Middlesex, Swansea, London, Strathclyde, Coventry and Cambridge will present their business plans in person to the judging panel in Lancaster.

The competition, organised jointly by the China Innovation and Development Association UK (CIDA) and the British Society of Chinese Entrepreneurs (BSCE), is supported by a number of sponsors including the Chongqing Government, First Enterprise Business Agency, Oxford Innovation, the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) and the Lancaster China Management Centre.

The competition aims to provide a platform for young entrepreneurs, and anyone with an interest in China, to use their creative passion, intelligence and entrepreneurial spirit to develop business between China and the UK.

Four finalists will be selected on April 25 to go forward to the national final in late May, to be held in Nottingham, where they could scoop up to £2,000, the award for first prize.

The semi-finalists are:

JEDAKANG (Middlesex): The company’s plan is for Herbmask, a ‘natural and almost perfect solution for hayfever’. It is looking to enter alternative and orthodox medicine markets and needs £500,000 to set up a processing base in China and packaging workshop in the UK.

CHONGQING DAZZLE (Tsinghua University): The ‘Intense pulsed light system’ (IPL) is a beauty treatment using light with high energy and broad wavelength to break down pigmentations and boost collagen production, restoring a more youthful appearance without downtime and side effects. Their target market includes salons, clinics and hospitals around the world.

NEW GREEN (Chongqing): The ‘New Green Wastrel Intelligent Recycle Company’ has been developed by students from Chongqing University. The Intelligent Recycle Machine (IRM) is employed in sorting everyday waste, starting on campus and gradually extending into public life and work areas. The IRM has high sensitivity, high accuracy and a low cost for mass production.

SEREN ENERGY (Swansea): The aim is to build an e-business solution for low carbon technology, providing Chinese keymark solar panels to UK businesses. There are currently no solar panel test labs in the UK or Ireland to give solar panel certification therefore Chinese solar panels with a solar keymark will have a great advantage in the market.

RADII TECHNOLOGY (London): Radii has developed Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology which significantly improves security within this market whilst allowing the devices to be re-programmed. This reduces waste as new tags do not have to be produced. The use of RFID will also help to reduce paper use.

CHEERS COMPANY (Strathclyde): Cheers is a high-tech agricultural company from the University of Strathclyde which uses green maize as a raw material and biological enzyme fermentation technology to produce corn starch. This is an edible product which is also suitable for many industries as an organic additive. It is ‘green, natural and highly nutritional’.

MISS RUSH TRADING AND SERVICES (Coventry): The target is to make the UK the centre of China-EU trading. The company will rent space in E-Chinatown to Chinese companies (exporters, wholesalers, retailers, restaurants, traders and service companies) and will also provide e-business to support the companies in

E-Chinatown. The aim is to get 20,000sqm in two-three years.

POWER SILICON TECHNOLOGY (Cambridge): This is a spin-out company from the University of Cambridge whose aim is to produce carbon reduction innovations and energy saving solutions for electrical energy conversions with power semiconductor devices and controls. The lead product is the Active Voltage Controller which is a semiconductor device for medium to high voltage applications.

The judging panel for the semi-final comprises of:

This is the second year running that Lancaster University Management School has hosted the hugely successful China-UK Entrepreneurship Competition and Professor David Brown is delighted with the quality of entries:

“We are very impressed with the high quality of the plans and look forward to seeing the presentations,” he said.

Among the special guests at the semi-final will be Dr Baoqing Wang, Minister Counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in London who will give the opening speech.