A team from the University of Reading have made it through to the Young Entrepreneurs Scheme 2018 finals.
The team was made up of Simona Grasso and Natalie Masento, who are both IFNH PDRAs working on EIT Food projects, Andrew Goodall, Postdoctoral Research Fellow from the School of Agriculture, and Esmie Wescott, a PhD Student from the School of Chemistry.
They were one of 12 teams at the ‘Plant, microbial and environmental’ themed workshop, hosted by Syngenta on the 17th-19th October 2018.
The team conceptualised a company known as ‘MooFree’, who use genetically modified yeast to produce dairy, tapping into a highly topical issue given the recent increase in interest in plant-based or vegan diets.
The team’s concept won the investment, and as one of two teams that won the round, they will be invited to the final on the 11th December 2018 at the Royal Society.
Congratulations to Simona, Natalie, Andrew and Esmie, and best of luck for the final!
The Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (YES)
YES is a competition which encourages UK postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers to develop business awareness and an understanding of entrepreneurship. The competition asks those taking part to prepare a business plan for a company.
It is organised jointly by The University of Nottingham’s Haydn Green Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship(HGI), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC). Take a look at the website if you’d like to find out more about the scheme.