Wolfson Enterprise Competition aims to give start-ups a boost

Launched in 2021, The Wolfson Enterprise Competition is an opportunity to design, pitch, and execute start-up ideas in a supportive environment – with the aim of taking them to the next level. 

The competition invites start-up concepts from teams of two or more people from across the Cambridge community, from postgraduate researchers thinking about commercializing and technology transfer, first-year undergraduates interested in trying their hand at conceiving a business plan, or an alumnus currently involved in a more developed start-up venture.

The deadline for submissions is Friday 17 February 2023.

£250 prize and investment opportunities on offer

Finalists will have the opportunity to participate in a live event held on Tuesday March 28th and present their full pitches to the Judges Panel, as well as to our audience - including mentors, investors, College alumni, and other members of the WES network. 

A prize of £250 will be awarded to the winning team to help support the launch of their project, and all teams with promising projects have the potential to meet interested partners or investors through the competition.

The judges

The judging panel brings together eight highly-experienced entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and executives from all over the world, representing a broad range of industries, professional backgrounds, and specialties. 

Part of the judges panel again this year is Wolfson alumnus Dr Ronjon Nag, who has invented and deployed artificial intelligence systems for over three decades and co-founded and sold companies to Motorola and Blackberry.

Joining Dr Nag are seven other impressive and well-connected judges, including Robert Cashmore MBE,Octopus Investments’ Director for the Middle East, and Chris Coleridge, Wolfson Fellow and Tutor, Associate Professor in Management Practice at Cambridge Judge Business School, and Founder/CEO of Carbon13, the venture builder for the climate emergency.

You can find a full list of our judges on the Wolfson Enterprise webpage.  

Last year’s winners

PhD students Ben Woodington (Wolfson) and Elise Jenkins (Trinity Hall) won the 2022 Wolfson Enterprise Competition with their pitch for bioelectronics start-up, 'Opto Biosystems', which aims to insert a device into the brain to treat serious medical conditions.

More information and enter

To find out more and to submit your entry, check out the Wolfson Enterprise Competition page.