Video: Murgitroyd Innovator Launchpad winner uFraction8

Brian Miller and Monika Tomecka of UFraction8 who won Murgitroyd prize. Picture: TSPL

At a ceremony held at The Dome on George Street, Dr Brian Miller and Dr Monicka Tomecka collected a cheque after fending off stiff competition with their sustainable cell separation technology.

Murgitroyd’s Chief Marketing Officer Jamie Leliever likened his encounter with the team to the energy boost he receives on trips to visit Silicone Valley.

“Every time I head out there,” he said, “I get this energy boost of innovation and innovators who are looking to take on the world and disrupt.”

The Innovator Launchpad was conducted entirely through Facebook.

A Director at the firm, Keith Jones, said he was “very impressed with the quality of entries” they received during the application process.

All bar two of the entries were Scottish and all three finalists - including the winner - were also Scottish.

Speaking to guests at the award ceremony, Keith Jones said uFraction8 impressed Murgitroyd on two fronts.

“One was the nature of the innovation,” he said.

“We had a lot of innovation, although high quality, tended to be iterative of modificators of something that had gone on before.

“The thing that struck me particularly about what uFraction8 were doing was that it was groundbreaking.”

Also going in uFraction8’s favour was CEO Dr Brian Miller’s recognition that he needed to partner with someone to bring in other skills in order to progress.

In a special Facebook Live broadcast after the ceremony, Brian said: “Winning this competition with Murgitroyd is going to be completely instrumental in progressing [our] idea into a positive impact for the world.”

“Make sure what you’re trying to sell is something that people really want and can really use,” he advises to would-be entrepreneurs.

“A lot of ideas look round great on paper but when you actually go through certain processes to qualify them, they might fall down at a significant hurdle, whether it’s regulation or just not being able to make it a cost-competitive solution.

Murgitroyd have confirmed they’ll be back in 2018 with another Innovator Launchpad competition and have already hinted they’ll be looking for video submissions from applicants.