Surrey student celebrated for his Bright Idea

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Hosted by the Westfocus Entrepreneurship Centre, the Bright Ideas competition saw students enter from seven universities including Brunel University, Kingston University, Royal Holloway College, University of London, and the University of Westminster.

This year, there were 171 entries involving about 244 students, who could enter individually or in teams. Many students entered as part of their degree programmes, while others are involved in entrepreneurs’ societies or enterprise mentoring schemes. Students ranged from Foundation degree to PhD level and crossed every discipline.  

Vassileios explained how his winning entry works: "Sleep apnea is a very serious condition that affects around 7% of the population, and can lead to heart failure. With my software the patient can record the sleep sounds they make overnight using a mobile phone, After that, the sound recording will be uploaded  to a website for analysis. The web app can extract sleep statistics and detect crucial apneas. The final diagnosis is sent to an expert for verification, and also to the patient."

Martha Mador, Head of Enterprise Education at Kingston University, and manager of the West Focus Entrepreneurship Centre said: “Each year we get more entries, and the ideas become better and more diverse. They are often demanding and challenging ideas addressing genuine needs.”

Awards were presented on Wednesday 15 February at a ceremony at the University of Westminster. First prize winners received £1,000 and the runners-up got £250 to help them further their ideas.