Meet the 2022/23 Alumni Innovation Award winners

What is the alumni innovation award?

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 aims to help launch businesses which have the potential for true global impact.

Meet our 2021/22 winners

Natasha Birk with her business Laguna Lashes, E-J Roodt with her business Epowar and Isabel Hurst with her business Dopplle are this year’s three individual winners of the Alumni Innovation Award. They will each receive a package of up to £15,000, membership for the SETsquared Bath Innovation Centre. This will enable them to completely dedicate a year post-graduation without worrying about finding employment so they can focus on their startups.

Siobain Hone, Graduate Enterprise Manager said:

I’m excited to see 3 women entrepreneurs winning Innovation Awards this year and I’m looking forward to supporting them with their startups. All their ideas are innovative and creative and not like anything we’ve seen before. The 3 businesses also reflect the University’s current research focus on sustainability, digital and health and wellbeing and we have high hopes for each of them. They’ll be getting involved with our Entrepreneurship Programme too so our current students will be able to hear about their entrepreneurial journeys and get a good look at their businesses close up. They’ll be hot desking in the new Enterprise Lab on the top floor of the East Building so look out for the events we’ll be running from there and come and find out how Izzie, Natasha and EJ are getting on.

We’ve asked Izzie, Natasha and EJ to share a regular blog so you can keep up to date with the development of their businesses across its supported year with SETsquared Bath.

Find out more about the Alumni Innovation Awards here.