Loughborough University students have secured a place in final of this year’s Engineering YES, a national competition which encourages engineering enterprise.

The ‘SaferFit’ team from Loughborough’s School of Civil and Building Engineering came first in the Bristol Heat of the competition and were also awarded the best teamwork prize.

SaferFit created and developed a winning business plan for ‘SaferBox’, a product that prevents road traffic accidents due to distraction, by retrofitting UK cars with next generation technology.

Engineering YES aims to raise awareness of the commercialisation of engineering ideas and encourages enterprise amongst postgraduate research students and post-doctoral researchers.

The annual competition, which is now in its seventh year, allows participants to showcase their innovation and teamwork skills in front of industry experts from commercial, financial and engineering sectors.

The competition is organised by the Loughborough University in conjunction with the University of Nottingham and the Rotary Club of Loughborough Beacon.

Domenico Cecini, Nafsika Drosou, Nikolaos Konstantinidis, Theo Stylianides and Babajide Talabi who make up the SaferFit team, will now have to battle it out to win the overall title in the Engineering YES 2015 final, taking place in Birmingham on the 17 June.

Nafsika Drosou from the SaferFit team, said: ''For the Loughborough Civil and Building Engineering team, this was a brilliant four day intensive training experience, during which we learned and applied business, marketing, finance and entrepreneurial skills.

“We were trained, mentored and judged by experienced business professionals, which for those of us with entrepreneurial aspirations is the best way to prepare for the world that waits following our PhDs.''

Professor Jacqui Glass, Associate Dean for Enterprise at the University’s Civil and Building Engineering School, said “We are delighted with the team’s outstanding achievement. To win both the overall first place and the best teamwork awards is a testament to the students’ motivation, team spirit and clarity of thinking.

"We are all very proud of what the team has achieved and I know that their positive entrepreneurial spirit will serve them well in the final."