The University of Sheffield’s enterprise community gathered at Mappin Hall on Thursday 14th May, to celebrate the culmination of the 2026 Emerge Awards Showcase.
The live event marked the finale of a year-long journey of business development, intensive masterclasses, and dedicated mentorship for the University’s student and graduate founders.
The annual Showcase, supported by Santander UK Universities, aims to foster a challenge-led university community while providing critical financial acceleration to student start-ups.
In February, applications opened for the third consecutive year. Whether the idea was brand new, or the business was already trading, we encouraged students and alumni from different stages of the business journey to apply with a total share of £19,000 available. For the 2026 competition, we saw a brilliant response from the university community, receiving 101 applications across 5 categories of awards.
The rigorous selection process officially began in late April, when twenty short-listed teams entered the Start-up Studio to deliver high-stakes, five-minute pitches to an expert panel of judges, including Peter Chambers, Robin Gibbons, and Dr. Rachel Smith.
The competitive field spanned three core categories — Conceptual Idea, In-Development, and Gone to Market — testing the entrepreneurs' technical knowledge, business models, and market readiness.
Having spent nine months transforming business ideas into valid solutions backed by real-world data, the winners took to the Mappin Hall stage to present their ideas live before a room of regional investors and ecosystem leaders.
Learn more about the application process and the top 20 finalists!
The 2026 Winners
Congratulations to all of our winners!
The seven businesses selected by the panel to receive prize funding represent an impressive variety of cross-industry innovation:
Buchanan Robotics (William Buchanan): Autonomous cubicle maintenance system designed to reduce the daily labour burden of cleaning and re-bedding dairy cow cubicles.
endometrioSIS (Ayse Durmus, Maisie Hill, Jeet Tse, Seren A Hinchliffe): Unlocking the full potential of menstrual blood. The EndoPad is an at-home testing kit to detect endometriosis.
Ignition Play (Dominic Ford): Inclusive sports and games with a twist inclusive, high-energy after-school program designed to engage every child, no matter their skill level or learning needs.
Project Vex (James Emre Midmer): A battery-powered environmental monitoring device that gives landlords continuous, real-time visibility into conditions that lead to mould growth before visible damage occurs.
Bump BPM Ltd (Aidan Corkett-Beirne): Bump is a music technology company building intuitive hardware, software and AI tools for the next generation of music creators.
Excelas (John Quy): AI exam marking platform where teachers can go to upload scans of their students' practice papers to get instant results and feedback. This saves teachers time and boosts student progression.
- Zap Dock (Sujaya Fernando): Zap Dock is a "Scan, Grab, Go" network of automated kiosks dispensing portable power banks with built-in cables. We provide total mobility: users rent a compact battery in seconds, charge while remaining active in the venue, and return it to any kiosk in our network.
Award Showcase Winners 2026
Award Showcase Winners 2026
Reflecting on the milestone, the Enterprise Team expressed immense pride in the cohort's evolution. While stepping onto the stage brought understandable nerves, each team delivered compelling presentations that highlighted both their entrepreneurial growth and professional confidence.
It is a privileged position to be able to support and shape the talented founders coming through our Emerge community. Yet again we have been hugely impressed and proud of the effort, creativity and ingenuity being presented this year from our students and graduates. We want Emerge to be recognised as South Yorkshire’s hub for active early-stage entrepreneurship enabling our businesses to test, iterate, and move ideas forward alongside the region’s best leaders and investors.
Matthew Charlton
Enterprise Manager
Student Enterprise Champion
In addition to our support in launching Start-ups, we also champion enterprise activities and encourage our community to develop their entrepreneurial acumen.
Student Enterprise Champion - £100 Prize
“Ollie has been a prominent and active member of the Emerge community this year. We’re impressed with how he has managed multiple projects alongside his degree, and it’s been a pleasure to watch his entrepreneurial skills develop through the Business Founder Pathway, Enactus, workshops and socials”.
Oliver Goodwin-Day - Winner
“As project lead for Enactus' CodeCreators this year I have further extended the course beyond what we have offered in previous years, leading to 37 signups which converted into 25 attendees beating out last year's performance by almost 40% and generating over £530 of revenue to be reinvested in other Enactus projects.
As a software developer, I would use the £100 to fund an Apple Developer account, allowing me to publish and test my own apps on the App Store. I would measure success by whether I successfully ship an app to the App Store within that timeframe, gather initial user feedback through small scale testing, and progress my project to a full release and continued growth and development. This would show that the funding has helped me become more intentional and disciplined in how I invest my time as a young entrepreneur”.
Sheffield Business Ecosystem
The celebration also highlighted the strength of Sheffield's regional economy. The Enterprise Team extended their sincere gratitude to key business ecosystem leaders whose continuous support and post-pitch discussions with the finalists reinforce South Yorkshire as a powerhouse for new ventures including Business Sheffield, Culture Sheffield, Sheffield Technology Parks, Trove Ventures, Tech SY, Sheffield Women in Tech, Barnsley DMC, Sheffield Angels, Sheffield Social Enterprise Network, Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, Sheffield Digital and Sheffield Spine.
These awards demonstrate the transformative impact of enterprise education—turning academic excellence into real-world solutions that make South Yorkshire healthier, greener, and more innovative for everyone. By connecting our students’ innovative ideas with the city’s enterprise ecosystem, we are doing more than just launching businesses; we are cultivating a vibrant, future-ready economy.
A successful third year of the awards highlights how the University serves as a bridge between talented individuals and the wider Start-up ecosystem.
Yasmin Knight
Director Regional Engagement and Innovation
Looking ahead
While the Showcase has concluded and the real building blocks of business growth begin for this year's winners, the enterprise pipeline remains open.
For students, staff, or recent alumni inspired by this year's cohort, the University’s Enterprise Team will resume its signature 1-to-1 business support sessions next week. It is never too early to begin drafting a concept, refining market research, and preparing for the 2027 application cycle!
The Enterprise Team extends a warm thank you to all the internal departments and providers across the University of Sheffield and the University of Sheffield Alumni network who contributed to orchestrating a highly memorable showcase
