Tanaka Business School team wins top honours in Global Idea to Product competition in Texas

On Saturday, the 11th of November 2006, a team from Tanaka Business School and Imperial College London lifted the first prize in the Idea to Product Global competition, hosted by the University of Texas in Austin.

The Smart Surgical Appliances (SSA) team of David Simmons (Imperial Executive MBA), Omer Aziz (Technology Venture Fellow at Tanaka Business School and surgeon, St. Mary's), and Adam James (PhD, medical engineering at Imperial) had already proved victorious at London Business School's Business plan competition. This time they beat off even sterner competition from Trinity College Dublin, Stamford, Georgia Tech and the University of Texas at Austin to take the coveted top slot.

The team's success in Idea to Product competitions has confirmed Tanaka Business School's position as one of the world's leading business schools for entrepreneurship and technology commercialisation training. The School has now won the four-year-old Idea to Product Global competition twice and also hosts the European branch of the event, for which it also won the inaugural event in 2006. Idea to Product competitions ask mixed teams of MBAs, scientists and engineers to devise commercialisation plans for new inventions, usually drawn from their own universities. They differ greatly from Business Plan competitions, as they require the participants to devise the perfect product to embody their innovative technology, and chart the route it can take to market most effectively. Business plan competitions, on the other hand, concentrate on taking a new venture to a state of investment-readiness.

The winning project presented the Smart Bougie, an innovative new surgical appliance initially intended for operations removing oesophageal blockages.  This patented device will improve the sensitivity of surgical procedure, decrease patient trauma and lower costs for the healthcare organisation.  It is based on cutting-edge technology currently being produced in Imperial College. The initial research was developed by Omer Aziz, who with Adam James has developed a number of prototypes.

Tim Meldrum, Manager of the Entrepreneurship Centre at the School, coached the Imperial team in Texas and was delighted with the team's emphatic win. He says that "not only do these events give business students the chance to apply the knowledge they are acquiring during their courses, but more importantly, it gives them globally relevant business experience. When our graduates are out in the workplace, developing products in multidisciplinary teams, the practical skills they have picked up from these competitions will stand them in good stead." These thoughts are echoed by David Simmons, the Imperial Executive MBA student. He feels that "the learning experience of working with a medic and an engineer, coming from very different backgrounds, will prove invaluable in my future career". Indeed, he feels that a key reason for the team's success was down to the unique atmosphere in Imperial's business school, which harnesses entrepreneurial drive to Imperial's recognised scientific prowess.

For more information:
Eoin Bedford
Press and PR Manager
Imperial College London
Tanaka Business School
South Kensington campus
London SW7 2AZ
email: e.bedford@imperial.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 207 594 9154
Mobile: +44 (0) 772 515 9796

About Imperial College London and Tanaka Business School www.imperial.ac.uk/tanaka
Consistently rated in the top three UK university institutions, Imperial College London is a world leading science-based university whose reputation for excellence in teaching and research attracts students (11,000) and staff (6,000) of the highest international quality. Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and management and delivers practical solutions that enhance the quality of life and the environment - underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture. Website: www.imperial.ac.uk

Imperial College's Tanaka Business School is a world-class provider of business education and research, focusing primarily on Imperial strengths in innovation and entrepreneurship, finance and healthcare management. The School offers full-time and executive MBAs, Masters programmes in Finance, Risk Management, International Health Management, Management and Actuarial Finance; and a Doctoral programme.