Meet Wayne Cartmel, who launched the My New Term application last year and received the NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator award and another for Best Technology Collaboration at this year’s Bright Sparc Awards run by technology forum Biztech.
MyNewTerm has saved schools across the region thousands of pounds in recruitment costs since it was launched last year. It incorporates linked open data from the Department for Education to automate much of the application and provide users with an unbiased overview of employers.
The innovative application has been developed with the support of leading computer science academics at the University of Bedfordshire at the Luton campus and The Open University in Milton Keynes.
Wayne said: "We are absolutely delighted to have won two Biztech BrightSparc awards. The team have worked tirelessly over the past few years to develop and launch MyNewTerm and we are thrilled to have supported so many schools and colleges.”
He intends to launch MyNewTerm in Milton Keynes in December once a technology upgrade is complete.
Wayne, who came up with the idea while a PGCE mathematics teacher trainee at the University of Bedfordshire, had previously won the Biztech award in 2015 for Best most innovative and creative student project when MyNewTerm was merely a prototype.
“Winning proved the catalyst to drive forward development and work closely with Higher Education academics,” said Wayne. “To return three years later having successfully launched the service and win these two highly prestigious Biztech awards is a remarkable achievement and testament to all the hard work over several years.”
The BrightSparc award for Best New B2B Technology Innovation went to Milton Keynes-based web designer Red Giraffe. It builds smart websites that use Artificial Intelligence enable companies to position themselves as the expert for multiple industries.
The CityLABS Innovation award for Milton Keynes went to Living Well at Home. It runs the Home Check property assessment service, tailored to individual households so they can stay living well, at home, in later life. Improvements to data collection, processing and digitisation has reduced the preparation time for assessments and reports from two days to four hours.
The award for Best Student Technology Project went to Wei Hang Chen.
Biztech chairman Fredi Nonyelu said the Biztech BrightSparc Awards are all about celebrating success, building profile and collaboration. He urged all the other finalists to let their entrepreneurial spirit shine, and to "come back stronger" in the 2019 Biztech BrightSparc Awards.
Milton Keynes Council chief executive Michael Bracey, a speaker at the awards ceremony, said Biztech and the council share a vision for creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurial spirit.
Sharon Rai, from the NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator Hub, and Dr Oksana Karyak, from the Bettany Centre for Entrepreneurship at Cranfield, spoke of the importance of the SME community to growth.
Plans for the 2019 awards are already under way. To find out more, visit https://biztech.org.uk/contact-us
