The annual New Enterprise Competition is designed to inspire new, high-growth business ideas and entrepreneurial talent. Launched every autumn, the Competition is open to students, staff and recent graduates of the University. The prize fund, in the region of £35,000, includes cash, free professional advice and managed office space to help make businesses a commercial success.

Entrants must submit their business plans by Tuesday 23 February 2010. The best entries – as judged by a panel of experts from the sponsoring organisations including Bristol City Council, Bristol SETsquared Business Acceleration Centre, Business Link, Deloitte, EADS, Edwards, Ginko Investments, IP Group, Motorola, North Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and the Wyvern Seed Fund – will then be invited to submit full business plans. Winners will be announced at the Enterprise Dinner in the summer of 2010.

Part of the prize pool includes six months’ worth of managed office space in the Bristol SETsquared Business Acceleration Centre. These Centres are part of the SETsquared Partnership, a collaboration between the universities of Bath, Bristol, Southampton and Surrey that supports early-stage technology, high-growth potential ventures. Each Centre provides business mentoring and guidance to entrepreneurs and business professionals as well as office space.

The competition has an excellent track record of showcasing highly innovative business ideas. Previous winners of the competition have included: a device able to diagnose disease rapidly by ‘reading’ the odour of biological fluids; a new technology based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) which promises to increase efficiency while reducing costs; and an ‘ebay-meets-Facebook’ website designed to find the latest fashions on the internet using image processing techniques.