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Blueprint finalists with big ideas

The North East’s universities business planning competition, Blueprint, has announced the finalists that will go through into the Business Awards category this autumn, to battle it out for a share of £100,000 cash and in-kind support. Unique business concepts from the region’s universities that have made it through include traditional themed wedding packages for clients in Hong Kong, a 3D graphics and animation company and remote robotic technology for the inspection service industries.

The final of Blueprint 2007 awards, to be held on 17 October, will see 10 student-based business finalists, as well as additional staff and alumni entries from across Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside Universities, chasing the reward to help get their business off the ground.

Dorothy Kelly, enterprise and business support manager at One NorthEast, one of the competition’s sponsors, said: “It is becoming increasingly popular that young people are taking the entrepreneurial route rather than settling to work for somebody else or for a large organisation and if graduates do not become self-employed, they will often work for a smaller employer who will expect a highly entrepreneurial attitude. The awards are a celebration of the high levels of entrepreneurial spirit which have made their presence across all our region’s universities and which are potential assets to the regional economy.”

Blueprint also expects to get an influx of academic and graduate entries into the science and technology and creativity and design award categories later in the year, which will be announced in late August.

A sponsor opportunity is still available for this year’s Grand Final. If you are interested in finding out more about the sponsorship opportunities available or to book a table at the event contact Jill Flowers on 0191 332 3210/07 or email scientific.enterprise@dur.ac.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .