Grand Ideas is an innovation challenge aimed at providing funding, support, and inspiration to Massey University students and staff who have 'grand ideas’. Winners can access up to $5000 in seed funding to further develop their ideas and all entrants are eligible for support from the ecentre and The Factory.
The winners of the Grand Ideas semester two, 2020 competition are:
1st place: David Sole - The Fetotomizer
A tool enabling faster and more efficient removal of calves that have died in-utero in a process that is kinder to the cow.
2nd place: Jeanette Rapson - Early Habits
Innovative baby food that makes it easy to feed babies nutritious food on-the-go.
3rd place: Nelson Harper - Urban Orchards
An app that connects wholesale customers with high quality fruit, vegetables and herbs grown in urban back yards.
Honourable mention: Dr Wayne Macpherson - Kingfisher
An elderly care monitoring device that sends an alert if routine changes in the use of a power point, such as not boiling the jug at a habitual time.
Honourable mention: Mary Roberts - Wool-based Bioplastics
A biodegradable replacement material for postal courier bags utilising discarded wool yarn.
There were 48 ideas submitted to the Grand Ideas competition this semester, the highest number in the two years the competition has been running. Entry was through an online form and finalists were asked to submit video pitches.
“We were blown away by the quality of the ideas and the pitches which this year span all Colleges, students and staff, and distance learners” says Brad Booysen from ecentre Massey.
Nelson Harper recommends the competition as an effective way to progress a good idea, “The whole process was very exciting and forced me to put the idea in the pressure cooker to really make it something worth pitching”.
Jeanette Rapson agreed, “I’m excited to be able to see my idea come to life and bring a new product to the industry that could help families and young children with their nutrition. Pitching my idea, meeting the team and making use of the resources provided during the application process was great learning and has taken my idea to the next level”.
“It’s hugely rewarding to see our annual program of extracurricular enterprise events delivering value for students and the community” says Ruth Jackson, Student Enterprise Project Manager.