King’s College Entrepreneurship

February 2019

This annual competition hosted by King’s College Enterprise, which is open to students, researchers and alumni, aims to encourage application of specific knowledge for social and economic benefit by providing funding for new business ideas. In 2019, WaterScope won this competition and was awarded £20,000 funding for promising international health benefits.

By providing a single-use consumable to collect the bacteria for imaging, anybody can use the WaterScope system, while also maintaining the integrity of the test. Digital images are acquired and analysed with results uploaded to record and verify test results. We are using this data to map out water quality in real time, and aim to ultimately help direct the efforts of aid agencies on the ground

Winning the Entrepreneurship Prize last year allowed WaterScope to apply for the Innovate UK grant, which provides 70% of the funding needed but requires companies to bring in the rest. Additionally, holding the position of Cambridge Research Associate at King’s College has opened up new research opportunities for the team including a field study in Sierra Leone to explore portable lab-based diagnostics.