Independent living in old age championed by winners of Wolfson Innovation Competition

The winning team, Sentimoto, will receive support from experienced mentors and £4,000 to develop their groundbreaking idea.

Sentimoto's wearable sensor captures and sends key physiological and environmental data to the user's smartphone. The information collected includes heart rate, body temperature, physical activity, ambient air temperature, and humidity. This information can, for example, detect if a patient with dementia has left a window open for too long, or can highlight lack of activity, which could be indicative of depression.

Professor Pat Nuttall, who is a Wolfson Supernumerary Fellow, came up with the original idea for the Wolfson Innovation Network. She has extensive experience of the process of commercializing research and during her career she has filed 20 patents around vaccines and novel biopharmaceuticals from ticks and has supported two spin-outs. She saw the competition as a ‘chance for Wolfson associates like me to share their experiences with students and others on how to turn ideas into opportunities that can make a difference in this world, and maybe open up a new career'.

The competition saw successful alumni and friends of Wolfson come together to share their expertise and experience, and support the entrepreneurs of the future.  Professor Marc Ventresca, chair of judges and Wolfson Governing Body Fellow, praised the innovative technological ideas presented by all of the teams, commented on how well the teams worked together, and emphasized how important networks and collaborations such as these would be in developing all of the ideas presented.

The judging panel consisted of Juan Guerra, a Wolfson associate and founder of Student Funder; Professor James Crabbe, Wolfson Supernumerary Fellow and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Creative Arts, Technologies & Science at the University of Bedfordshire; Juliet Simpson, alumnus and Professor of Art History and Visual Culture at Buckinghamshire New University, with experience of promoting entrepreneurial initiatives in the arts, particularly in the international museums and galleries sector; Tom Black, Executive  Chairman of Digital  Barriers plc,  which  he  founded  in 2009, and a member of the Wolfson College Strategy Group; and Helen Lawton Smith, alumnus and Professor of Entrepreneurship at Birkbeck University.

Three other finalists were Highly Commended by the judges: Vibewrite, a pen that vibrates when spelling or grammatical errors are made; Ohmcare, which aims to provide smartphone-based sensors and evidence-based decision support tools to local primary care providers to enable screening and management of common non-communicable diseases in developing countries; and Harvest Wild, a team that aims to help tackle the problem of deforestation in Odisha, India, through supporting the sale of non-timber forest products, including the soap berry.

Over 30 teams entered the competition, and the two runners up, Woxford, a team proposing the creation of an integrated EU-China business to provide professional engineering and technical services on industrial wastewater treatment in both markets, and Behive, who displayed their social audio system, which consists of a pair of over-ear headphones that can instantly be turned into speakers, also presented their fascinating ideas and received a great deal of helpful feedback.

Wolfson's President, Professor Dame Hermione Lee, presented the certificates to the highly commended and winning teams, and thanked Professor Nuttall, the judges, Bill Conner, the Development Officer for all of their hard work. She particularly thanked, on behalf of the College, the two generous donors who provided the prize money for the event: Ira Lieberman and Dr Gerald Chan.

Building on the excitement and support generated by this first competition, a new partnership between Hertford, Pembroke, and Wolfson Colleges is currently being discussed, which aims to further tap into the burgeoning entrepreneurial scene throughout Oxford.

Further information on all the short-listed ideas, the team members, and the judges can be found at www.wolfsoninnovate.com.

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