Seven start-ups have been selected from 39 applicants for the TAKEOFF Seed Funds Awards.

Now in its fifth year, the competition has become a showcase of unique business ideas from students and researchers at the University of Malta participating for grants totaling up to €100,000 from the Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Businesses.

The final winners of the Proof of Concept category were:

CRISP - to evaluate the appeal and conformity of SPEECHIE, a multi-modal device that facilitates language therapy for children both within and beyond the clinical setting.

DRIFT - a wearable in-shoe temperature monitoring system that will provide comprehensive, real-time data analysis to prevent foot complications in people living with diabetes.

WindCRADLE - a novel method of deployment of floating offshore wind turbines with spar-type support structures.

The winners of the Seed Fund category were:

Get Hitched - a web-based matchmaking device between couples looking to get married and wedding supplies vendors.

The Huskie Craft Beer Company - who are looking to open up their brewery to clients wishing to have their own, limited edition, unique beer.

EarlyParrot - a referral marketing platform that enables online businesses to amplify their lead generation via referral capabilities

LearnD -an application which offers a different form of private tuition, where students teach students.

The teams will be working closely with the TAKEOFF Business Incubator and the University’s Knowledge Transfer Office over the next year in a bid to bring their ventures closer to commercialisation.