QUB pair scoop top award for a panic alarm that looks just like jewellery

TWO Queen’s University students have won a UK-wide engineering award for their unique design which aims to help young women feel safer when walking the streets alone.

Ben Lindsay (23), a product design engineering graduate from Carlingford, and Emma McQuiggan (23), a mechanical engineering graduate from Carrickfergus, won the Engineers in Business Champion of Champions Gold Award of £3,000 at an awards ceremony in London’s Royal Academy of Engineering on Monday.

After creating their new company Stand as part of their course module, Ben and Emma designed BOLD, a smart safety alert system which resembles a contemporary piece of jewellery.

If the wearer feels at risk, they simply press their BOLD and it automatically sends their location and a text to pre-selected contacts without having to use a mobile phone.

BOLD, which costs £149, uses a new low-power mobile standard called NB-IoT, allowing the product to be much smaller and more discreet than previous technology.

The pair were one of 10 teams that won their university heat of a Dragons’ Den-style competition and reached the grand final, where they competed for a share of £10,000 and mentoring to help make them take their business innovation to the next step.

In May of t his year, Stand also presented an investors pitch at t he Bel f a s t Telegraph Business Awards at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Explaining how t he pr o duc t c a me about, Ben said: “Two girls i n our group, o f which Emma was one, said that there is this pers i s t ent f ear in the back of their heads when walking back from the library or walking home after working late at night.