Finalists from the RSA Spark Entrepreneur Awards have secured significant additional funding from the Chacegrove Family Foundation to help them take their high-impact ideas further into real-world solutions.
Two young designers have won £10,000 each from the RSA Spark programme to develop sustainable innovations following a Dragons’ Den-style pitch competition.
Felix Chen and Casta Schaebbicke were awarded the ‘scaling grants’ after impressing a high-profile judging panel of design and innovation leaders. The funding, generously provided by the Chacegrove Family Foundation, will help them take their projects beyond early prototypes and into practical application.
Chen, a product designer and former student at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London, has developed BioBrew – a wastewater filtration system designed to tackle pollution at small coffee farms. Schaebbicke, a final-year Industrial Design student at Northumbria University, has created Biotherm, a low-cost home insulation solution using waste cooking oil, paraffin and beeswax.
Both projects emerged from last year’s RSA Spark Entrepreneur Awards, where ten finalists were selected for their potential to turn innovative, socially responsible ideas into viable ventures that can demonstrate climate impact. Six months on, the progress made by participants was clear during a full day of pitching to a judging panel chaired by Joanna Choukeir, the RSA’s outgoing Director of Design and Innovation.
“I was so impressed with how far the RSA Spark entrepreneurs have developed their venture ideas in just six months. Their commitment to impact and creativity was evident in the pitches,” said Choukeir. “I wish Felix and Casta the best of luck as they use the scaling grants to take their exciting ventures to the next level.”
Choukeir also thanked the RSA Spark guides who supported participants through mentoring – Andrew Grant RDI, Tom Tobia, Tom Philipson and Holly Lewis – as well as the judging panel.
As well as backing the projects, we are backing individuals who will, we hope, go on to become successful entrepreneurs.
Jonson Cox
The panel comprised: Johanna Gibbons, Keeper of the Faculty of the Royal Designers for Industry; Emily Nott, Head of Inclusive Innovation Programmes, UK Research and Innovation; Louise Cannon, Director of Social Entrepreneur Support, UnLtd; Sarah Watson, Head of Innovation, National Lottery Community Fund; and Jonson Cox, Founder Trustee of the Chacegrove Family Foundation, which generously supported the grants.
For Cox, the strength of the cohort made the final decision far from straightforward. “We had a high calibre of entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs who had put imagination, thought and analysis into their proposals,” he said. “It was a difficult decision – we would love to see all the students proceed with their ideas – but our brief was to choose two to support.
“The two we selected are both very strong proposals that have every chance of succeeding. But as well as backing the projects, we are backing individuals who will, we hope, go on to become successful entrepreneurs.”
Chacegrove is a family-funded foundation that wants to improve sustainability by supporting early-stage initiatives. It supports organisations that work to reduce the impact of climate change by encouraging the sustainable use of resources and promoting local food production.
I'm really encouraged by the recognition and the chance to turn my project into a real development. People drink coffee every day, but most aren't aware of its environmental impact.
Felix Chen
Chen plans to use the funding to visit coffee farms in Latin America and South Asia, and to develop two new versions of his system: BioBrew Field, for individual farms, and BioBrew Hub, for networks of farms.
“I’m really encouraged by the recognition and the chance to turn my project into a real development,” he said. “People drink coffee every day, but most aren’t aware of its environmental impact. Coffee pollution starts on the farm – BioBrew is designed to address that.”
Schaebbicke described the award as a “huge vote of confidence”, and said that the funding would go directly into prototyping, testing and validation. She plans to place Biotherm panels into existing housing stock to gather data on temperature regulation, energy use and user experience.
“This project has always been about tackling a real problem – fuel poverty and cold homes – so to have that recognised at this level means a lot for this project but also for projects in the future,” she said.
“It also feels like a turning point. Until now it’s been design-led and research-driven, but this support allows it to move into something tangible that can actually be tested in real homes and start making an impact.”
This project has always been about tackling a real problem – fuel poverty and cold homes – so to have that recognised at this level means a lot for this project but also for projects in the future.
Casta Schaebbicke
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The fight to save our climate is at a crossroads that demands honesty not just optimism
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Is the clean-energy transition held back by markets built for fossil fuels?
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