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Bee probiotic business plan a winner for young entrepreneurs

12 December 2008

A team of graduate students from the University of Oxford has been rewarded for their exceptional entrepreneurial skills by scooping first prize of £1000 in the Environment Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (YES) competition.

The national competition, run by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) in association with the University of Nottingham and with support from the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), encourages young scientists to develop skills and contacts needed to turn research into commercially viable products and to pitch their ideas to a panel of potential investors.

Four of the ProBee team after winning the London final of Environment YES. From left to right : Xiaoqi Feng, Gillian Petrokofsky, Rebecca Ross, Bartu Ahiska
Click on image for a high-resolution version (502KB)

The Oxford team are Rebecca Ross, Bartu Ahiska, Xiaoqi Feng, Christina Vinson and Gillian Petrokofsky. They beat teams from across the UK to the final and impressed the judges with their virtual business 'ProBee', which they say would offer a solution to the serious problem of colony collapse disorder in honey bees.

ProBee CEO, Rebecca Ross, said, "Every third mouthful of food we eat is produced from crops pollinated by bees. But bee colonies across the Northern hemisphere are being devastated by disease which resists current chemical interventions, bringing severe consequences for agriculture and the environment."

ProBee's solution would be to develop a unique feed supplement, utilising natural bacteria from bees to boost their immune systems. They say this would provide a safe, effective and low-cost solution to combat disease and ensure healthier bees. It would establish more sustainable crop pollination and honey production in the future, and provide a very good return on business investments.

Dr Peter Ringrose, Chair of BBSRC and head of the judging panel, said, "The standard of competition this year was particularly high, and in addition to the excellent entrepreneurial skills demonstrated we heard some incredibly innovative product ideas… We are delighted that these talented scientists are preparing themselves early in their careers to translate their research into benefits for the UK economy and society - an activity for which their grasp of the principles of finance, marketing and intellectual property will be absolutely vital."

Rebecca Ross said, "The power of this programme is how quickly we all came to feel that we really were entrepreneurs, just starting our own company. It has shown us the excitement of turning a research idea into a business which brings value to others, and I hope that this is something which we can continue during our own scientific careers."

Runner-up in the competition, and the only other team to make it through to the final, was a team from Cranfield University. They came up with an idea for supermarkets to save energy and costs by fitting a 'Jetshield' to their freezer compartments. Their hypothetical company 'JetLabs' would seek investors to develop and maintain the product, which they say would provide huge environmental benefits and enhance the socially responsible image of stores and manufacturers.

Further information

University of Oxford Press Office
Tel: 01865 280532

Cranfield University Press Office
Tel: 01234 754999

NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557215

Notes

1. Environment YES (Young Entrepreneurs Scheme) is an innovative scheme to raise levels of entrepreneurial awareness, targeted at PhD students and post doctoral researchers working in the environmental sciences.

It is run as a competition with training workshops provided to participating teams. It provides participants with the opportunity to investigate new career paths and to network with a variety of professionals who will discuss their own career routes.

2. The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funds world-class science, in universities and its own research centres, that increases knowledge and understanding of the natural world. It is tackling major environmental issues such as climate change, biodiversity and natural hazards. NERC receives around £400m a year from the government's science budget, which is used to provide independent research and training in the environmental sciences.

Press release: 62/08

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