We pride ourselves on the comprehensive range of activities on offer to students to develop their own ideas and gain valuable experience during their degree programme. With the Alumni Innovation Awards, we seek to build on this foundation by offering promising graduates the chance to win an award to help take an innovative idea to market.

Award winners are supported to develop their ideas into viable businesses, encouraging the next generation of entrepreneurs. Through these awards, we aim to encourage a culture of change across the University, with students seeing an aspiration to become an entrepreneur as a clear and viable career choice. With the help of the SETsquared network and award winning business incubation programme, the scheme helps launch businesses which have the potential for true global impact.

Look back at the 2021 award winners

Look back at the 2020 award winners

Look back at the 2019 award winners

Look back at the 2018 award winners

The Scheme

The scheme is open to applications from final year students, post-graduates and researchers at the University of Bath. Applicants must be in their final year of study or research. Awards will typically; 

• be made to individuals from any department/school at the University of Bath;

or 

• complementary pairs of individuals from two different departments /schools at the University of Bath e.g. the Department of Computer Science and the School of Management.

The Award offers;

• an award (grant) of up to £20,000 (£1,500 of this funds a year of Virtual membership at SETsquared Bath’s award winning business incubator). The grant assists with your living costs throughout the award year so that you can commit most of your time developing your business. The grant is not paid to your business and should not be considered as investment.

Awards are allocated at the discretion of the panel. Funds will be allocated in three tranches on the condition that milestones in the project plan are met. Your SETsquared Bath business mentor will monitor progress and sign off on the milestones before each payment is made to you. You will be expected to submit a monthly guest blog post describing your entrepreneurial journey as well as speak about your business at a SETsquared Bath business networking event.

Innovation Awards 2023/24

To apply for a University of Bath Innovation Award, an applicant will typically have demonstrated commitment to innovation and enterprise through involvement in one or more of the enterprise activities on offer during the course of their studies / research or have developed ideas as a structured part of their degree. To become involved, join our Microsoft Teams page here and book a chat with our Mentor-in-Residence here.

You will also be required to complete the below application form.

University of Bath's Alumni Innovation Awards – where ground-breaking ideas meet entrepreneurial glory! 🏆✨

Double the Fun, Double the Deadlines: January & April! 🗓️ Choose your moment – whether you're hustling through January or breezing in with an April deadline, we've got you covered! Flexibility is the name of the game. 🌟

Why Wait? Apply Now! 🚀

• Flexible Deadlines: 3rd January or 10th April – your call, there’s two awards up for grabs per deadline.

Alumni Innovation Awards are not just about winning – they're about launching dreams into orbit. 🚀 Ready to shine?

Apply, dazzle, and let's turn those ideas into legendary success stories! 🌟 #InnovationAwards #BathAlumniAwards 🎓💡

If you have any questions about your application please contact Siobain Hone. We highly recommend you join our Microsoft Teams page here for updates. This Award is not open to members of the public. You must be a University of Bath final year student, postgraduate or researcher at the university to apply and receive the funding. One application per person, not per business.

Terms and Conditions of the Alumni Innovation Award

• The Award (grant) value will be up to £20,000 to support your living costs during the year. The grant is not awarded to your business. Awards are allocated at the discretion of the panel. Funds will be allocated in three tranches on condition that milestones in the project plan are met. The SETsquared Bath business mentor will monitor progress and sign off on the milestones.

• Membership of the SETsquared Bath Innovation Centre (£1,500 fee paid by the grant) is a pre-requisite for receiving the Award. Membership will start in the Autumn following allocation of the Award. The annual fee for SETsquared Bath Innovation Centre membership is included in the total amount granted and will be invoiced in full prior to the start of the incubation period.

• Winners of the Award are expected to commit the majority of their time on developing their business post graduation.

• Winners of each Award will attend a mentoring session at the SETsquared Bath Innovation Centre before spending time developing their product or service. The output of this session will be a delivery plan for the next 12 months.

• Winners will be required to submit regular written updates against the development milestones in the project plan. These updates will be used as a public blog on the SETsquared Bath website. They will also be required to attend quarterly review sessions at the SETsquared Bath Innovation Centre. The updates and quarterly review meetings will be summarised and shared with the funders.

• The funds for the Award are provided in grant form by the University of Bath Alumni department. Winners will be required to keep a regular blog to record their progress as entrepreneurs and the development of their businesses and occasionally be asked to contribute to press or promotional events and materials on behalf of the University of Bath and SETsquared Bath.

• The University of Bath reserves the right to suspend the Award payments at any time.