Research Associate Dr Christopher Proctor has won investment for a business plan which involves developing innovative technology for drug-free pain management.
The Postdoc Business Plan Competition was a fantastic experience for us as it forced us to think critically about the details of our business plan and the best way to bring our invention to market.
Dr Christopher Proctor
Dr Proctor collected third prize of £5,000 at the 2019 Postdoc Business Plan Competition run by Cambridge Enterprise and the Entrepreneurial Postdocs of Cambridge (EPoC). The investment will be used by Cambridge Bioelectronics – a pre-start-up company to be co-founded by Dr Proctor, Research Associate Dr Vincenzo Curto and Clinical Lecturer Dr Damiano Barone. Together, they will pioneer a novel minimally invasive Spinal Cord Stimulator (SCS) implant for superior chronic pain management.
Dr Proctor gave a presentation alongside six finalists and then went on to answer questions from the judging panel consisting of: Iris Good, Cambridge Enterprise Investment Committee; Andrew Williamson, Managing Partner at CIC; and Ashutosh Trehan, President of EPoC.
The audience also heard from previous winners that included Dr Giorgia Longobardi, RAEng Engineers Trust Young Engineer of the Year 2019 and co-founder and CEO of Cambridge GaN Devices Ltd (CGD), a spin-out from the Department of Engineering; and Tongtong Zhu, co-founder of Poro Technologies.
Professor Andy Neely, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise and Business Relations at the University, gave a short speech in which he expressed the great opportunity postdocs have laid out before them. With the infrastructure, the people and the expertise, there is no better place to find themselves than Cambridge, he said.
Dr Proctor said: “The Postdoc Business Plan Competition was a fantastic experience for us as it forced us to think critically about the details of our business plan and the best way to bring our invention to market. I would highly recommend the competition to anyone who has a potential business idea or who is interested in learning more about how to formulate a business plan.”
The 2019 Postdoc Business Plan Competition was sponsored by international law firm Taylor Vinters and chartered accountants Hardcastle Burton. All six finalists were provided with ideaSpace membership for one year, including tailored support and office space.
This article has been edited from the Cambridge Enterprise website.
