London South Bank University (LSBU): 2020 Engineers in Business Competition Winners

Engineers in Business Competition provides a £3,000 prize fund to UK Universities and Colleges to enable them to award prizes for brilliant innovations conceived by engineering and technology-related graduates and undergraduates. LSBU awarded three top prizes:

Gold Award Winner: The ECO Threads team were awarded a £600 Engineers in Business Prize for developing eco-friendly and sustainable clothing from a new material created from constituent components of cigarette butts.By collecting discarded cigarette butts and converting the toxic acetate fibre and rayon into sustainable clothing, the team hopes to educate consumers on the dangers of cigarette butt waste, whilst creating a sustainable fashion brand.

Silver Award Winner: The Photo-Filter team won a £400 Engineers in Business Prize for the creation of the Photo-Filter device that retrofits onto vehicles such as buses. The air filter will use the movement of the bus to create clean air, without the need of any form of energy, while the unused space of the roof will be fixed with PV panels. By placing these on the bus the structure will also produce renewable energy which can be stored for later use.

Bronze Award Winner: The Smart Socket team was awarded a £400 Engineers in Business Prize for its device which aims to prevent upsurges on the National Grid that occur at certain times of the day.
By communicating with the National Grid and controlling when the equipment plugged into it is on or off, the aim is to prevent devices such as kettles, washing machines and dishwashers being used at peak hours to split the load on the grid over a longer period of time.