“I’m gobsmacked.” These were the words by Tim Jones CBE, Executive Director of Tata Limited as he was judging the incredibly high calibre of startups at this year’s Tata Varsity Pitch. Indeed, from adaptive wear that integrates medical devices into any outfit, to passive cooling systems for floating solar panels, the startups and businesses shortlisted for the 2024 Tata Varsity Pitch Competition are an inspiring snapshot of tomorrow’s innovation. “They may all be small businesses and startups, but have significant ambition to become big businesses and make a difference—what a promising future they have ahead of them,” said Jones.
Run annually in partnership with the National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE), the competition aims to spotlight and nurture entrepreneurs from educational institutions across the UK, all of whom are united in their mission to develop businesses for the good of society.
With each passing year, the quality and market potential of applicants improves, and 2024 was no exception. Esteemed judges from across six Tata companies in the UK began by shortlisting the top 30 entries who pitched at the semi-final, where the seven finalists won in their respective categories and were taken through to a two-day bootcamp stage.
Industry experts at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) spent the first day with finalists at their impressive skyline innovation hub in the City, ‘TCS Pace Port™’, mentoring them on topics including innovation, finance, sustainability, marketing, and communications. “As a leading software consulting company, we work across all industries and various markets, and have a major focus on research and innovation, so we’re always thrilled to see new solutions and the latest in innovative thinking,” says G Subramanian, Chief Technology Office at TCS. “The Tata Varsity Pitch bootcamp really is a highlight of the year, and presents the opportunity for our leaders to interact with these startups, all of whom are doing fascinating things and have tons of potential.” On day two, the cross-sector strategic business development network The D Group provided sessions on leadership and networking. The finalists also received communication advice and pitch training from NACUE’s partners, Wow Media.
While most of you might know Tata for its prominence in the global steel industry, that is just one part of the Indian-headquartered group, which has a history dating back to the 1860s. Operating in more than 100 countries, with 30 companies across ten industries, you’d be hard pushed to find a part of our day-to-day life that hasn’t been touched by Tata. The buildings we work in, the cars we drive, the tea we drink and the devices we use to unwind in the evenings have all, in some way, likely been a product of Tata’s innovation.
There’s Air India, which was acquired by Tata Sons in 2021, seven decades after its founding by J.R.D. Tata, an aviation enthusiast and the first Indian to receive a commercial pilot’s license. “As we recover and rebuild Air India, some great stories have been coming out,” says Jones. “One of my favorites is that to remedy the broken seats in the aircraft we inherited, people in other parts of the Tata group have been 3D printing new seat parts.”
Then there’s Agratas, a £4 billion battery business that launched to make batteries for electric vehicles and has now expanded its focus to make all kinds of batteries powered by green energy, and is in the process of building Britain’s biggest battery manufacturing facility in Somerset. Tata Consumer Products, meanwhile, makes household staples such as Tetley Tea and Teapigs, and Tata Chemicals Europe produces British Salt, which is the UK’s leading salt business. TCS (also the title sponsor for the London Marathon) is the largest of the group’s businesses, in terms of people and revenue, with over 600,000 employees across 52 countries. “We work with many of the top ten brands across almost all industry verticals, and although we provide a large variety of technology-focused services and solutions, our research and innovation capabilities are standout,” says Subramanian. “Through our open innovation program, the TCS Co-Innovation Network (COIN), we collaborate with startups, VCs, accelerators and academia to explore new innovation opportunities, leveraging this ecosystem to help address specific customer challenges.”
Driving the Tata group is its mission to improve the quality of life of its global communities, achieved through long-term stakeholder value creation based on leadership with trust. Or, as Jones describes it: “people get excited about doing stuff to make a difference,” with much of that mission supercharged by the “spirit of doing new things.” Some 66 percent of Tata Sons equity share capital is held by philanthropic trusts, which support education, health, livelihood generation, art, and culture.
New ideas and talented people are what keep pushing Tata towards the future—and supercharging its philanthropic efforts—which is why the company has been so involved with the innovation and startup scene in the UK. 2024 marks 15 years of Tata’s partnership with NACUE, which has been essential in this journey to capture the early-stage ideas seeded at college and university level, and mentoring them to competitive advantage in their sector and industry.
The seven Tata Varsity Pitch 2024 finalists have shown impressive mettle, combining the varied skill sets and outlook to create something far bigger than the sum of their parts. All are destined to make a positive impression on the world. Take Smart Justice, for example, a legal technology social enterprise that leverages generative AI to increase access to justice for underserved communities.
Founder Sarah Stephens worked as a human rights lawyer in Tanzania on and off for a number of years and has seen firsthand the effect on women’s lives when they don't have access to justice. “It triggered me to build a digital legal advisor, which is available to women on their mobile phones,” says Stevens. “It’s trained on a legal data set, and when women put in a question, it generates answers to their legal question and directs them on a specific pathway.”
On a mission to educate in a sea of misinformation and often negative online content is the social media app startup InfoTik, which only posts informative, fact-checked content. Not only that, but it provides further reading for users on everything from politics to the solar system.
Equally invested in boosting our savoir faire, Della Yellow—think Duolingo for crafters—helps equip the curious with the skills and motivation to sew, repair clothing, and build confidence in other sustainable crafts through easy-to-follow tutorials and gamified learning. In a world of prohibitively expensive courses and tacit knowledge, it’s no wonder the app’s prelaunch WhatsApp community is growing so fast.
This year’s winner, PulpaTronics, was born out of a collaborative project on the Innovation Design Engineering dual Masters/MSc, a dual program between Imperial College and the Royal College of Art. “For our final project, my co-founder and I knew we wanted to design something that tackled sustainability and climate change challenges with cutting edge technology,” says Chloe So, co-founder and CEO of PulpaTronics. Their attention was drawn to the grave damage done by single-use RFID tags. Made of silicon, copper, aluminium, plastic, and paper, and embedded in products for item tracking and inventory management, once the consumer pulls the tag off, they go straight to landfill.
It was while sifting through research papers that co-founder Barna Soma Biro came across chip-less RFID technology, which PulpaTronics creates through laser-inducing a carbon-based conductive material onto paper. This biodegradable tracking tag technology eliminates the need for metal mining, simplifies manufacturing, and streamlines recycling. “I was last to pitch in the final, which was amazing because I got to see all the finalists crush it and do a really good job,” says So. “But waiting anxiously until my turn was hard!”
The team plans to use their winnings—£15,000 in equity-free funding—to scale up and automate production lines, with their eye on pilots set out for a leading global retail grocery store, a national paper packaging company, and potentially several leading sporting brands. “Being part of this competition has been phenomenal, and every part has felt very hand-picked and intentional, which sets Tata apart from other kinds of competitions or programs,” says So. “We’re overjoyed that the judges saw the business potential and afforded us this opportunity to grow.”
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