24 May 2010

DCS student wins Best Social Enterprise prize

Adam Tomkins, a student on the BSc in Artificial Intelligence, has won a £1,000 prize for Best Social Enterprise in the University's annual Enterprising Ideas Business Planning Competition.

He described his idea, entitled ‘Project Artse’, as a worldwide collaborative community of socially conscious, artistic individuals, submitting original copyright-free works of art to a website. This artwork would then be used to create merchandise such as artistic books and clothing. ‘Project Artse’ would also work with local communities to develop products to sell, such as child-illustrated education books for children, in turn raising funds to build and improve schools in third world communities.

The competition was funded by Yorkshire Forward and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), via the Economic Challenge Investment Fund. It gives students and graduates support in planning their business ideas and getting them off the ground. This year’s entrants were required to attend a business planning workshop before submitting a business plan, financial forecast and action plan. These plans were then reviewed by a panel of judges consisting of local entrepreneurs, business support providers and academics.

In addition to his £1000 prize, Adam scooped free business mentoring time from RC Business Support and free student membership to the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry.