Imperial MBA Grads Win Startup Prize For Slow-Water Turbine

A startup that aims to turn slow-moving water into an energy source and that’s led by two Imperial MBA grads won the annual Innovation and Entrepreneurship Start! Challenge earlier this month at Imperial College Business School.

The energy hardware startup Lunagen won a prize of £10,000 (about $15,300), Imperial reported in a press release.

New Imperial MBA graduates Lauren Dickerson and Will Penfold lead Lunagen. They were on one of eight teams who presented to a panel of investors. Students and staff from the Business School watched the “Shark Tank”-like event.

Lunagen was one of three teams that advanced to the finals of the competition. Dickerson and Penfold beat out Propertyscape, a home-buying service that utilizes virtual reality, and Keepit, which matches charities and donors.

Lunagen has patented the idea of a turbine to generate electricity from slow-moving rivers and tidal waters. The turbine would not interfere with fish swimming upstream or downstream. Lunagen says that its turbine could help lower energy costs by taking advantage of an under-utlized resource.

“We’ve worked tirelessly over the past two years to develop Lunagen and look forward to the next stage of our journey in transforming this project from a business concept to a working product,” Dickerson says. “The prize money will help us continue our research and development work and give us more time to raise our profile and attract our next round of funding.”

Imperial College Business School places an emphasis on entrepreneurship through its Department of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and other programs. Applications for Imperial’s September 2016 MBA cohort open in November.

regions: London

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