From campus to digital impact

Celebrating the UK’s most promising early-stage technology ventures born on campus.

The mission

Are you building a tech start-up with roots in a UK university – or supporting founders who are?

Don’t miss the opportunity to enter the Digital Universities UK Start-up Competition, showcasing the UK’s most promising early-stage tech ventures.

Entries are open!

Deadline to apply: 18 February
8 shortlisted announced: 25 February
5 finalists announced: 4 March

Who should apply?

This challenge is open to current students, recent alumni, and university staff/faculty whose start-ups were conceived, developed, or significantly advanced within a UK university – whether through research, an incubator or accelerator, or academic mentorship.

What’s in it for you?

For each of the 8 shortlisted ventures:
Complimentary event tickets plus a dedicated exhibition stand to showcase your innovation to senior digital leaders.

In addition, for each of the 5 finalists:
Pitch live on 14 April in a Dragons’ Den–style session to investors and senior digital leaders, plus take part in a dedicated panel sharing your founder journey from campus to market.

In addition, for the winner:
A post-event write-up in the digital THE magazine, inclusion in the post-event email, an official Digital Universities UK Start-up Competition Winner logo, and an official THE certificate.

Judging criteria

How innovative and original is the core idea or technology?
How well does the solution address a significant and clear problem?
Is there a realistic and scalable path for the venture to grow and succeed?

Eligibility

To be eligible, entrants must meet all criteria below:

The venture must be a pre-seed (up to £50k) or seed stage (up to £500k) technology start-up
The company must have been in operation for less than five years
The company must be headquartered in the United Kingdom
The venture must have a clear and formative link to a UK university (for example, founded by current students, recent alumni or academic staff; a spin-out from university research; or developed within a university incubator/accelerator)
The primary product or service must be a technology-based solution.

Enter the competition

Entries close on 18 February

First name*

Last name*

Job title*

Start-up name*

Work email address*

Country*

Website*

Year start-up founded*

Turnover (GBP)*

Please provide a short, one-line description of your tech venture (Note: This competition is exclusively for technology-based start-ups.):*

Which UK university is your venture formatively linked to, and what is the nature of this link? e.g. current student, recent graduate (year), academic staff, other:*

Please describe your core product or service and the significant problem it addresses:*

Please provide your pitch deck (PPTX. Format). This should be no longer than 10 slides:*

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