A duo from Glasgow that turns construction waste into bricks, a startup with a revolutionary turbine for the maritime sector, and a wall-mounted anaphylaxis kit to help save the lives of extreme allergy sufferers the world over. It is hard to argue that the annual Tata Varsity Pitch competition doesn’t attract a diverse list of startups and burgeoning businesses.

Held every year in conjunction with the National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE), this celebration of the entrepreneurial spirit and the brightest minds from colleges and universities across the UK aims to accelerate those ideas that offer substantial market opportunity, have comparative advantage over competitors, and are ‘good’ for society.

Whittling down nearly 155 applications this year to just 30 businesses on the final short list was no mean task, but expert judges from across the Tata group, alongside partners at NatWest Enterprise and business development network organisation The D Group, offered advice and mentoring at every step of the process—from the initial 60-second video pitch, to refining the idea at bootcamp.

Tim Jones, CBE, is the executive director of Tata Limited, one of the mentors and a judge of the competition, alongside award-winning entrepreneur Erika Brodnock, MBE, and WIRED’s very own senior writer Morgan Meaker.

"The Tata group keeps changing, we keep evolving. Entrepreneurism and continuous innovation are a very big part of what we do. And to encourage this culture, we are delighted to be partners with NACUE for the Tata Varsity Pitch competition. I am always thrilled by how good the finalists are. The difficulty for us judges is that the finalists are so different and so good!” Tim Jones explained at this year’s event.

But why does a global enterprise, consisting of some 30 companies and headquartered in India, want to support and develop 32,000 young people a year in higher and further education?

Well, the Tata group touches more of your life than you’d probably guess. A staggering 250 million servings of the Tata tea brands are consumed every day around the world (it’s either Tetley or teapigs in your mug), The Shard contains nearly 1,000 tonnes of steel produced by Tata Steel, and Tata Communications carries around 30 percent of the world’s internet routes. Chances are, you actually regularly use a Tata service, drive in a Tata-owned vehicle, fly on a Tata-owned aeroplane or even stay in one of its hotels.

But more than this, Tata’s mission is to improve the quality of life of the communities they serve globally, through long-term stakeholder value creation based on leadership with trust.

To achieve this, 66 percent of the equity share capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts, which support education, health, livelihood generation, art and culture.

It is because of this philanthropic mantra that Tata feels the urge to accelerate innovation and startups within the UK, particularly those burgeoning businesses that have been formed at the college or university level. The company has been partnering with NACUE for more than 13 years, capturing early-stage ideas in the business cycle and mentoring those applicants through the process.

This year’s Tata Varsity Pitch finalists proved to be the cream of the crop in terms of future thinking and those harnessing the latest technology to make a positive impact on the world. Take Phare Labs as an example; this determined startup realised that most domestic smoke alarms just weren’t fit for purpose. “Our smoke alarms kept going off for no reason at all, and this frustrated us. Why did they seem to go off for everything but smoke?” explains Daniel McBride, co-founder of the company. The solution was to create a smoke alarm that used AI to detect 50 percent more fires than rival smoke alarms, respond to 76 percent of them earlier, and reduce false alarms by 98 percent, preventing financial losses and saving lives.

At the other end of the startup spectrum was Joaquin Contreras Merino and his Tap ’n’ Tour smartphones app that allows anyone to craft and digitise an authentic local tour, allowing tourists to tap into local knowledge, experience, and expertise—a breakthrough which has the potential to democratise the touring industry.

Kitt Medical aims to make adrenaline pens available in public places in kits, which look and feel just as important as defibrillators, while Defensive Thinking aims to securely aggregate localised data into a shared intelligence platform for use by military commands, emergency responders, and community police.

However, this year’s winner was Even, a company that was originally formed in the heads of three high school girls as a community service project. It soon became a force to improve Dignity Kits for women in low-income and displaced settings.Even’s solution is low-cost, one-size-fits-all Period Underwear that uses a custom extreme stretch textile to fit all sizes. It lasts for more than four years and is six times more cost effective than the current humanitarian offerings.

“At Even, we spend a lot of time communicating 'through' taboo or slightly controversial topics such as periods, dignity, and the asylum system. We’ve previously had success, mostly with women, not only understanding the problem but 'feeling' it,” says founder Sarah Bailey.

“For our pitch, the goal was to make everybody feel the way we were making women feel,” she adds. As a result, the team dumped 910 disposable sanitary pads on stage in an attempt to visually represent how much waste, bulk, and expense can be eliminated from the humanitarian system with Even’s innovative product.“For us, it was the first time we felt confident enough to go for a pitch with this level of theatricality and visible passion,” Bailey adds.

Sarah Bailey and her confounders at Even will receive £15,000 in equity-free funding and access to continued mentorship through those involved with both the Tata Varsity Pitch competition and NACUE.

To find out more about the Tata Varsity Pitch, join NACUE’s newsletter here. And to learn more about Tata group, visit tata.com or @TataCompanies on socials.

This article was originally published by WIRED UK