The 2007 Oxford University 21st Century Challenge, an international social
enterprise competition run by the world renowned Saïd Business School and
open to companies looking to develop both commercial and sustainable new
ventures, has been won by a Glasgow based design consultancy.
Red Button Design were awarded the £35,000 first-prize for their Reverse
Osmosis Sanitation System (ROSS), an innovative water transport, sanitation,
storage device for use in developing countries. The company is a design
house with a “social conscience” and was founded by 23-year-olds Amanda
Jones, Nicholas Pang and James Brown in November 2006. Amanda, who has a
degree in philosophy from the University of Glasgow, runs the company full
time while Nicholas and James are still studying Product Design Engineering
at the Glasgow School of Art. On winning the award Amanda said: "To be
honest I sincerely considered us to be the underdogs. To be selected as the
winners when there were 182 entries from 23 countries really means a lot to
all three of us. We're thrilled."
Amanda and James were presented with the award at the Saïd Business School in
Oxford by judging panel members Professor Steve Rayner, of the James Martin
Institute for Science and Civilisation at the Saïd Business School and
Richard Sanders of Permira.
Professor Rayner said: "The strength and quality of submissions was
outstanding and the overall winner was selected on it’s ability to meet
certain criteria; the scale of the problem being addressed; the impact of
the individual business on problem solving; and for it’s simplicity and
elegance."
The money will be used to further develop the ROSS and means that the company
will not yet have to attract funding from venture capitalists. Amanda said: "We
are in talks about an equity deal but the prize money will allow us to fund
the next process of development which is a full field test. Being able to
fund this ourselves will put us in a much stronger bargaining position and
offer a significantly lower risk to any investors in the future."
Red Button Design had more to celebrate as they were also selected as the
winner of a £10,000 runners-up prize. They won the Tomorrow's People award
for a business idea covering healthcare and medical challenges.
The Tomorrow's Wealth award for a business idea covering social inequality and
distribution of wealth challenges was won by Email Emblems. Their winning
idea was a patent pending way to support charitable causes with the emails
they send. The other £10,000 winner was Ecovative Design, who won the
Tomorrow's Planet award for a business idea covering environmental
challenges. Their winning idea was a low-cost biodegradable insulation which
competes as a direct replacement for Styrofoam.
Fiona Reid, Director of Entrepreneurship at Saïd said: ‘The aim of the
competition is to inspire entrepreneurs to tackle complex 21st century
challenges by setting up innovative commercial ventures. We are delighted
with the response we have had and with the broad range of business ideas
that have been submitted for each track. Entries have increased by over a
third on last year and this is now definitely the biggest such competition
in the UK, and probably Europe, and the only one we know with this specific
approach of using profitable business ideas to solve these big global
challenges.’
The event was web streamed live and the presentations can be watched again at:
Tomorrow’s Planet
Planet
One
Planet
Two
Planet
Three
Tomorrow’s Wealth
Wealth
One
Wealth
Two
Wealth
Three
— For more information on all the winners and runners-up please
visit www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/21challenge
— For more information on Red Button Design's ROSS please visit www.thisisredbutton.co.uk
