Four students from the University of Bath have this week been pitching business ideas to some of the key players in Silicon Valley and New York’s tech sector.
They gleaned start-up advice from university alumni working for Facebook, Google, JP Morgan and a host of world-leading companies. 
Two of the student entrepreneurs are the winners of the university’s Apps Crunch competition to design and present an original app,
They were joined by the winner and runner-up in the student Business Plan competition to devise a start-up strategy for an innovative business idea.
Hospital doctor Phil Hamann, who works at Bath’s Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, is studying for a PhD in the university’s Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology and designed the winning app with his team mate undergraduate Bhavuk Gupta from the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Phil’s work at the hospital inspired him and Bhavuk to create an app which enables patients with long-term chronic diseases to track their health. The app, called Cora, monitors their results and optimises the allocation of hospital appointments according to need, removing the reliance on regularly scheduled appointments.
Phil has worked with the university’s Innovation Centre to begin developing the app with Propagator, digital product specialists based in Bath and London, and Cora will be piloted by the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust.
James Courtney won the university’s Business Plan competition with his premium dining rewards app, LUX and is now running it from the university’s Innovation Centre during the placement year of his Business Administration course in the School of Management. He has already secured more than £80,000 of crowdfunding for his business.
First-year Business Administration student Harry Cobbald was runner-up in the Business Plan competition. His idea for an online service for temporary staffing called Shift impressed the judges enough for them to fund his trip to the States as well.
Enterprise education manager in the University’s Research & Innovation Services, Siobain Hone, said: “Our students have an amazing opportunity to take advice from highly successful entrepreneurs and business people on all aspects of building a start-up, from technical development to investment and recruitment.
“We’re very grateful to the university’s alumni in the States who supported the trip, and gave their time and expertise to inspire our winners.”
Phil Hamann said: “I’ve worked in the NHS for 10 years and the pressures on resources are clear to us all. We need innovative thinking to take on some of the challenges that face patients and clinicians alike, and the enterprise competition at the university has given me the opportunity to do just that.”
The Enterprise team at the university, based in the University’s Innovation Centre, runs business competitions and activities which give students the opportunity to experience entrepreneurship and build the skills needed for business. It has a successful track record for nurturing entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurship and start-up ideas.
The prize trip was funded and supported by university alumni based in the US. They belong to a 100,000-strong community living in 150 countries worldwide. Bath alumni and friends support the university in many ways, from donating their time and expertise to help current students and fellow graduates, to making gifts which change lives.
