{"id":25,"date":"2019-06-03T12:12:28","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T11:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/enterprisesu\/?p=25"},"modified":"2025-07-30T08:06:53","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T07:06:53","slug":"whats-the-big-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/2019\/06\/03\/whats-the-big-idea\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s The Big Idea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Queen\u2019s\nUniversity Students\u2019 Union celebrates 9 years of student innovation!<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Nine years of student innovation were celebrated at this year\u2019s annual Queen\u2019s\nStudents\u2019 Union\u2019s \u2018What\u2019s the Big Idea?\u2019 competition!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Run by Enterprise SU of Queen\u2019s Students\u2019 Union and sponsored and\nsupported by Ormeau Business Park, PwC and Queen\u2019s Graduate School, a \u00a32,800\nprize pot and 11 awards were presented to 10 student entrepreneurs who boasted exciting\nand novel business ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 11 categories included the two prestigious \u2018Most Innovative Idea\u2019\nand \u2018Best Overall Idea\u2019 Awards which both saw the shortlisted participants take\npart in a surprise 2 minute elevator pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Product Design Engineering students Patrick Swaile, David Beirne, Simon\nMcComb and Ewan Murray stole the \u2018Most Innovative Idea\u2019 Award with their\nlifesaving technology \u2018AID First\u2019 for those who suffer from anaphylaxis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patrick\nSwaile said \u201cOur aim is to remove the external variables from an anaphylactic\nincident. First responders can introduce errors which are often fatal. AID First\nprovides safety and security. The \u2018What\u2019s the Big Idea?\u2019 competition provided\nus with an excellent platform to share our business idea and meet a wide audience\nof likeminded individuals. The opportunity to pitch our business to a judging\npanel provided invaluable experience. The feedback from industry professionals\nwill greatly help to further develop our strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Innovative biosecurity enforcement device \u2018Bio Boots\u2019 was the\nbrainchild of Agriculture Technology students Joshua Thompson, Aaron McFarline,\nRobert Gamble, Chris Sweeny and William McFarland and took home the \u2018Best\nOverall Idea\u2019 Award. The product uses digital technology to offers unique biosecurity on livestock production systems which minimises\ndisease and improves welfare and health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Patricia McNeill, CEO of Ormeau Business Park, said <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re honoured to mark the ninth anniversary of sponsoring the \u2018What\u2019s the Big Idea?\u2019 competition. The awards are a barometer of the quality of student entrepreneurship that thrives at Queen\u2019s and each year we\u2019re introduced to ideas that have the potential to be game changing. As many notable global companies have been started by undergraduates, we know that there\u2019s true potential for our applicants to convert their big ideas into big business. Today we celebrate the ideas that have emerged from all the teams that entered this year and we watch in anticipation as they progress to gain traction in the marketplace!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

Russell Donaldson, Research Manager at PwC, said <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was great to see all the students getting involved so enthusiastically. All who took part had clearly invested a lot of time in their ideas and had a genuine belief in what they were doing. I\u2019ve no doubt we\u2019ll see some very successful entrepreneurs emerging from this group onto the market very soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

Victoria Coulter, Enterprise Support Officer at Queen\u2019s Students\u2019 Union, said <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe \u2018What\u2019s the Big Idea?\u2019 Awards were a fitting end to a successful first semester at Queen\u2019s by celebrating and rewarding the creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit amongst students and staff across the University. The competition will return again next year, giving another generation of students a chance to develop and showcase their ideas. I for one can\u2019t wait to see the new concepts that will come from our entrepreneurs of the future!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Best Idea from the Faculty of AHSS: Fiona Lowe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Winner of Best Green Business Idea: Kyle McCullough & Team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Winner of Best Use of Technology: Patrick Swaile & Team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Winner of Best Idea for Global Marketplace: Lewis Loane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Queen\u2019s University Students\u2019 Union celebrates 9 years of student innovation! Nine years of student innovation were celebrated at this year\u2019s annual Queen\u2019s Students\u2019 Union\u2019s \u2018What\u2019s the Big Idea?\u2019 competition! Run by Enterprise SU of Queen\u2019s Students\u2019 Union and sponsored and supported by Ormeau Business Park, PwC and Queen\u2019s Graduate School, a \u00a32,800 prize pot and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[234,237,299,66,72],"tags":[226,227,229,233,170],"class_list":{"0":"post-25","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-competitions","8":"category-programmes","9":"category-student-businesses","10":"category-upskilling-opportunities","11":"category-whats-the-big-idea","12":"tag-enterprisesu","13":"tag-entrepreneurship","14":"tag-startup","15":"tag-wtbi","16":"tag-competitions","17":"czr-hentry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2019\/06\/IMG_0255-2-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6B2ST-p","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4519,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions\/4519"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/studentsunion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}