Who am I?

I've realised i've neglected to introduce myself properly...

A bit of a major oversight on my part I have to admit!

I'll keep it brief so I don't bore the majority! I'm a 23 year old student from from Fort William in the Scottish Highlands. I graduated in the summer of last year from Southampton University with a 2.1 Masters in Aerospace Engineering. Certainly not top of my class as I was easily distracted by the many other delights that university life had to offer!

I'm now (aside from my studies in the US) studying for an engineering doctorate or EngD at the University of Southampton and will continue for another 3 years where I leave off after I return from the Global Scholars program.

The technical idea which won me the only UK place on the Global Scholars program can be summed up  as a novel wave energy device for use onboard marine craft. The technology employs gyroscopes in new ways to capture energy from a vessels interaction with any waves it encounters. Crucially it is housed within the vessel and so negates the issue of survivability which plagues all other wave energy devices.

I developed the idea along with four other colleagues while studying in the final year of my masters program. The concept has caught the attention of a number of investors and businesses including the home grown giant Virgin. While it's exceptionally exciting to be working on the idea and meeting investors and companies like Virgin it is also hard work. The legal mine field of patent and intellectual property rights is staggeringly complicated and I would really be struggling if it weren't for the huge help i've received from SETsquared. However it is 100% worth the effort and I can only urge anyone else considering pursuing a technology venture to go for it!