University of Aberdeen’s Lightbulb Ideas Competition 2025 Sparks Innovation and Entrepreneurial Thinking
The University of Aberdeen proudly concluded its annual Lightbulb Ideas Competition, an exciting platform that encourages students to tackle real-world challenges through entrepreneurship. This year’s competition saw a record-breaking 130+ students participate, forming 46 teams—nearly double the number of teams from last year—demonstrating the growing entrepreneurial spirit among the university’s students.
Held over three consecutive Wednesdays—19th February, 26th February, and 5th March 2025—the competition provided participants with the opportunity to:
- Develop innovative solutions to real-world problems
- Explore the feasibility of launching a business or social enterprise
- Pitch their ideas to a panel of expert judges
- Win funding to help bring their ideas to life
This year’s competition offered eight prizes, with four of them made possible by the generous support of the Engineers in Business Fellowship (EIBF). Their contribution has helped increase participation from students in engineering, computing science, and biomedical fields.
Dr. Heather May Morgan, Dean of Enterprise and Innovation, reflected on the competition’s impact:
“The EIBF Prize Fund has truly elevated this year’s Lightbulb competition, enabling more students from engineering, science, and biomedical disciplines to participate and collaborate. Our finalists showcased their passion for entrepreneurship, applying their expertise while refining their commercial acumen. The external support and mentoring provided by EIBF has significantly raised the bar, and we are excited to see our winners take their ideas forward into successful ventures.”
Celebrating Our 2025 Winners
- 🏆 1st Prize (Sponsored by Engineers in Business Fellowship)
CAnswer Punch Biopsy – Dr. Soham Mitra, Nikhil Venugopal, Ahmad Azzam, Aryan Batheja, Liliyana Kalinova - 🥈 2nd Prize (Sponsored by Engineers in Business Fellowship)
Karto – Yusuf Qureshi - 🥉 3rd Prize (Sponsored by Engineers in Business Fellowship)
Relief Diagnostics – Euan Murphy - 🏅 4th Prize (Sponsored by Engineers in Business Fellowship)
Zygote Link – Pratik Naikwadi, Lalit Kinshore, Martin - 🎖️ 5th Prize
ApeScrape – Joseph Fitzgibbon, Josh Britain, Laura Orlowska, Alan Fleming, Alexander Miles, Ben Greenidge, and Isobel Beetschen
🌟 Special Recognition Awards
- 🎤 Audience Choice – Design Thinking (Day 1): Mansi Tiwari
- 🏆 Judges’ Choice – Pitch (Day 2): CAnswer Punch Biopsy
- 🎤 Audience Choice – Pitch (Finale): CAnswer Punch Biopsy
The Lightbulb Ideas Competition continues to be a launchpad for students with a passion for innovation and entrepreneurship.
With the success of this year’s event, we look forward to seeing the impact of these ideas in the real world and supporting our students as they take their next steps—whether through Converge, funding opportunities, or business acceleration programs.
Congratulations to all our participants, finalists, and winners!
