That’s all folks. The grand final is now closed with a strong finish from the top ideas fighting out another heated contest for first place.

We’re now busy counting votes and will publish the winner early next week.

The last vote in the competition was cast at 17.59:46 and was the 48,104th vote cast. It was cast for idea: http://www.beermatchallenge.co.uk/idea/154.

Thanks to everyone for making it a blast!

Team BMC

After the dramatic finale to Heat 3 (Winner to be announced shortly…) we now head into Heat 4 – the final round where new ideas can be submitted.

The BMC Grand Final taking place between 27th Feb and 12 March will consist of just the top 10 ideas from each Heat, no new ideas will be allowed to be submitted during this time. So, If you want to stand a fighting chance to see your idea in the Grand Final you’ll need to get your ideas in by the end of Heat 4 if you haven’t already, and publicise your idea using all the tools you can muster to increase your chances.

We’re seeing that posting your idea to facebook (by using the Facebook sharing button) is a highly effective way at increasing your number of votes – so don’t be shy! Get your friends and family involved and get the most votes you possibly can to win those prizes!

…GO!

Team BMC.

With just six hours remaining in the current heat (to win the fantastic Flip Mino HD video camera) the top three ideas are literally neck and neck:

1st place: http://ow.ly/16FzY, 127 points.

2nd place: http://ow.ly/16FAD, 121 points.

3rd place: http://ow.ly/16FBz, 114 points.

The top three ideas are separated by just 13 points but how does the scoring work in the competition?

The answer is simple. Every time an idea gets a Thumbs Up, we award it 2 points. Every time an idea gets a Thumbs Down we subtract 1 point.

This means that just 7 clicks separate the top three ideas, which means that your vote can literally make someone’s weekend so get voting!

Do you fancy the idea of Wifi being available campus-wide? How about Dynamos attached to gym equipment? Or does the notion of lectures being filmed and put on black deserve to win?

You decide!

Heat 3 of the Beermat  Challenge sure is drawing to a nail-biting conclusion this week! Heat 3 finishes on Friday Feb 12th with the chance of winning a great Flip Mino 4Gb HD Video Camera. With Neil Clarke withdrawing his idea from the running in this heat (see blog post below for details), This leaves the top 5 ideas almost neck and neck, we need a final big push to get as many votes as we can for a clear winner.  Here are the current top 5 ideas for this heat with direct links to each idea so you can easily vote:

“WIFI on the entire campus grounds including the student village and grassy areas so that we can sit,chill and surf the net everywhere!” – from Kristin – Click here for direct link to idea 309

“Dynamos (electriciy genertors) to be fitted to all aerobic (bikes, ect ) gym equipt to produce electric for the uni. Its wasted otherwise!” – from Darren – Click here for direct link to idea 312

“Lectures filmed and put on blackboard, instead of just note formed powerpoint presentation. This would make fantastic revision and recap” – from Kaley macis – Click here for direct link to idea 311

“Fix the potholes in carpark 20!!, we don’t like driving over them!” -  from Ross – Click here for direct link to idea 314

“Make sure all the toilets aren’t so nasty and that they actually have toilet roll” – from Debby – Click here for direct link to idea 323

Every vote counts so we really wanna see those fingers! GO!

Team BMC.

Neil Clark, the Media & IT Co-ordinator at UWESU, has decided to withdraw his first-place idea from the competition.

“Display & sell artwork (canvases / prints etc) by UWE artists at Frenchay, earning money for artists and making Frenchay more interesting.”

This idea has seen an unprecedented level of support during the heat, scoring significantly higher than the 2nd place idea. But while we are disappointed with his decision we feel that it is the right one.  Neil’s close involvement  and support for the competition could give him an unfair advantage and this would not be fair to other competitors.

Best for Neil to speak for himself:

“I’m really happy to see that the idea to display and sell artwork by UWE students has had such good support, but since the Beermat Challenge is aimed at generating ideas from students I think it’s only fair if I withdraw this idea  from the competition now.

I’m hoping I can help this simple idea become a reality and I know there’s support from key people in the SU at Bower Ashton and it would create a positive connection between students at Bower Ashton & Frenchay Campuses. Having regular exhibitions of student artwork on the main campus would give good exposure to UWE’s artists and there’s a large community of students and staff who may like to own some affordable and original artwork.”

David Brennand, Head of the Innovation & Enterprise Division at UWE, comments:

“It’s unfortunate but we feel Neil has made the right choice in withdrawing his idea for the good of the competition. Nevertheless the Innovation and Enterprise team at UWE look forward to working with the SU to develop this great idea. The Beermat Challenge continues to see a lot of interest from students, staff and alumni and it’s fantastic to see such a strong response to this and other ideas.”

This now leaves a very close race to the finish of the current heat for the new Top-Five ideas, with only a few votes separating them. More on that later today!

You will NOT be able to submit new ideas in the Final Round – New submissions will no longer be taken after the close of Heat4, so please don’t wait to submit your ideas.

Only the top 10 ideas from each of the Heats 1,2,3 and 4 will be eligible for entry into the final round to stand a chance of winning the Asus eeepc 1005HA Network.

So, make sure that you get your ideas in BEFORE THE END OF HEAT 4 to compete for entry into the Grand Final. Heat 4 closes on 26th Feb so don’t hesitate!

To be abundantly clear – Waiting for the final round to put in your great business idea is a very bad idea. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SUBMIT NEW IDEAS IN THE FINAL ROUND. If you want to win the Netbook, you MUST get your ideas in by the end of Heat 4 (26th Feb) to stand a chance.

Good Luck!

Following on from the unsung heroes of  Heat 1 post – here’s some classics from Heat 2:

• “A self propelled ‘message in a bottle’ that uses solar energy to suck up, and pump out sea water, from seringe like tubes” – kate
• “launch a concave mirror the size of a planet and send it 4 light years away- charge people to look back at past events reflected back” – chris proctor
• “Pop and sniff bubble wrap” – kate
• “Vote for me and if I win I’ll sell all the prizes and hold a big free party! VOTE TO PARTY!” – monkey business
• “A website that compiles all of the houses in the area that will accept students. So it is easier for students to find their first rental.” – Luke Egginton-Groves
• “A company which produces champagne in a can… called CAN-PAGNE!!” – emma wood
• “Use golf club cars, like the golf caddy’s drive, or tuk tuk’s as taxi’s to drop students at different places on the huge campus” – Oliver Gerring
• “A way of finding your friends in a club. A set of bands set to specific frequency that goes green when within 2 metres of a friend” – romilly lynn
• “sanitary towels in colours to match underwear” – helen
• “Dare should b a product wit a LED incased & photosensitive film dat u lay over important info in a book den transfer on 2 ur notes instantly” – Oisin O’Reilly

We’ve had some great ideas come in over the months from Beermat Challenge – The competition is specifically looking for business ideas, but there has been some classic examples of whimsy and genuine insight to campus life at UWE… so we’ve decided to post some of the best here for your viewing pleasure! Starting with the creme-de-la-creme of silliness, stupidity and downright over-looked genius from Heat 1:

• “beer bottles should have notes on the side so that you can drink to a certain level then play a note-great tunes with multiple bottles” – from piers radclyffe, 136
• “make software that stores your dictionary on your sim card so that when you get a new phone you don’t have to reenter all your words” – from denise robinson, 144
• “A puppy rental service for single guys to meet girls…. awww!” – from Gemma Boyce, 90
• “A mechanism for umbrellas that pings them back into shape when blown inside out” – from Dave vous, 95
• “Kinetic energy powered work-out music player. Charge those batteries by human work out power!” – Colleen Doreen, 102
• ““rapping paper” – wrapping paper with photos/lyrics by rappers” -jonathon fletcher, 210
• “UK Monkey Farms. Getting hold of pet monkeys is near impossible in the UK. We nee docile, well-aclimatised primates grown on British farms.” – Jenny Jordan, 151

The Beermat Challenge website now has a dedicated Facebok Sharing button to make sharing your idea with your friends a breeze!

The idea with the most votes wins the prize for each heat. At the moment Heat 3 is in full swing with the chance to win a Flip Mino HD 4Gb Video Camera So get those ideas submitted and shared with your friends on Facebook! The more of your friends you can get involved with voting for your big business idea the better your chances of winning the prize!

Heat 4 is just around the corner starting on Feb13th where you can win an Xbox 360 Arcade – its also a very important date as this is the last round where you will be able to submit new ideas before the Grand Final ending on 12th March 2010.

Heat 5 – THE GRAND FINAL is where one lucky winner will win an Asus eeepc 1005HA Netbook – The top ten ideas from each heat will be entered into the final heat where the lucky punters will slug it out for the most votes in total to win the grand prize. So get those social networking strands spreading through the interwebs and make sure you stand a chance to win the grand prize!

Good luck!

A big WELL DONE to Abbie Thompson – Winner of Heat 2 of the UWE Beermat Challenge

Adult nursing student Abbie wins a a Sony Cyber-shot DSCW180 Digital Camera for her idea “Students should be able to buy parking permits rather than tokens think of all the wasted paper and trees !!!!”

Heat 3 of the Beermat Challenge is now under way with the chance of winning a great Flip Mino HD 4Gb Video Camera – so don’t hesitate to submit those, ideas, tell your friends and get those votes flowing. There’s still 1 more heat left before the grand final where the 10 ten top ideas from each heat will fight it out for the most votes to win the coveted top prize of an Asus eeepc 1005HA Netbook!