BT launches pitching competition for UK SMEs

BT has launched a pitching competition to give SMEs in the UK the chance to pitch their business ideas to a panel of experts.  

The BT SME Award 2017: Securing the Nation, which is part of the company’s BT Infinity Lab programme with TechHub, is aimed at security-focused SMEs.

Membership

The competition’s award categories will be mining and analytics, digital innovation, cyber security and data collection, with BT searching for businesses with innovations in the data collection category in particular.

Participants will have the opportunity to pitch their innovations and technologies in a Dragons’ Den-style environment to a panel of experts, which will include BT Security Chief Executive Officer Mark Hughes and National Cyber Security Centre Technical Director Ian Levy. The event will take place on 4th April at BT Tower.

Winners of the competition will be awarded £10,000 each and a six-month membership for TechHub’s London-based start-up space. BT will also be working with winners to help them commercialise their products. 

Contribution

According to Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General Ben Gummer, SMEs make a large contribution to the UK economy, accounting for more than 99 per cent of all businesses in the private sector.

“Entrepreneurs, risk-takers, family businesses and start-ups have created more than 2.7 million jobs and launched almost a million new businesses since 2010,” he said.

He added that the Government is going to spend £1 in every £3 with small businesses by the year 2020 – by doing this, the Government will harness the skills, knowledge and experience of the country’s SMEs and utilise them to improve public services.