We’ve had reports of a bug in the Control Panel that was preventing access through Facebook Login mechanism. We’re pleased to say that this has now been resolved.

Initially you can access the Control Panel by using the link provided in the welcome and update emails. Accessing the panel using these links connects your Facebook account to your ideas, but once that’s done it can be accessed from the link on the main page.

Currently the Control Panel provides more up to date and detailed information about your ideas including Graphs showing historical data but also it shows  you the ideas immediately  around yours in the ranking. This is useful because often it doesn’t take a lot of votes to move your idea up the ranking by a lot!

We’re working hard to improve the Control Panel and add new features, so please let us know if you have any comments or requests.

We’ve just finalised the winner of the first Heat, who will be taking home the Pentax Digital Camera. Head on over to the winners page to check the idea out!

It’s an exciting day as UWE’s Spring Coffeemat Challenge gets under way in 3…2…1… Now!

Click HERE to visit the site, enter an idea and win great prizes! Finally, please remember to check out the latest terms and conditions, as they’ve been updated a little since last time.

GO! Team CMC.

We’re just hours away from launching the winter term Beermat Challenges (look out for more next spring!).

This year we’re welcoming Lancaster and Bristol University to the Beermat Challenge fold, who are joining UWE.

This year promises to be a very exciting competition with a number of new features to increase competitiveness – participants who re-tweet Beermat Challenge generated tweets can win points for their ideas now too!0

That’s all folks. The grand final is now closed with a strong finish from the top ideas fighting out another heated contest for first place.

We’re now busy counting votes and will publish the winner early next week.

The last vote in the competition was cast at 17.59:46 and was the 48,104th vote cast. It was cast for idea: http://www.beermatchallenge.co.uk/idea/154.

Thanks to everyone for making it a blast!

Team BMC

After the dramatic finale to Heat 3 (Winner to be announced shortly…) we now head into Heat 4 – the final round where new ideas can be submitted.

The BMC Grand Final taking place between 27th Feb and 12 March will consist of just the top 10 ideas from each Heat, no new ideas will be allowed to be submitted during this time. So, If you want to stand a fighting chance to see your idea in the Grand Final you’ll need to get your ideas in by the end of Heat 4 if you haven’t already, and publicise your idea using all the tools you can muster to increase your chances.

We’re seeing that posting your idea to facebook (by using the Facebook sharing button) is a highly effective way at increasing your number of votes – so don’t be shy! Get your friends and family involved and get the most votes you possibly can to win those prizes!

…GO!

Team BMC.

With just six hours remaining in the current heat (to win the fantastic Flip Mino HD video camera) the top three ideas are literally neck and neck:

1st place: http://ow.ly/16FzY, 127 points.

2nd place: http://ow.ly/16FAD, 121 points.

3rd place: http://ow.ly/16FBz, 114 points.

The top three ideas are separated by just 13 points but how does the scoring work in the competition?

The answer is simple. Every time an idea gets a Thumbs Up, we award it 2 points. Every time an idea gets a Thumbs Down we subtract 1 point.

This means that just 7 clicks separate the top three ideas, which means that your vote can literally make someone’s weekend so get voting!

Do you fancy the idea of Wifi being available campus-wide? How about Dynamos attached to gym equipment? Or does the notion of lectures being filmed and put on black deserve to win?

You decide!

Heat 3 of the Beermat  Challenge sure is drawing to a nail-biting conclusion this week! Heat 3 finishes on Friday Feb 12th with the chance of winning a great Flip Mino 4Gb HD Video Camera. With Neil Clarke withdrawing his idea from the running in this heat (see blog post below for details), This leaves the top 5 ideas almost neck and neck, we need a final big push to get as many votes as we can for a clear winner.  Here are the current top 5 ideas for this heat with direct links to each idea so you can easily vote:

“WIFI on the entire campus grounds including the student village and grassy areas so that we can sit,chill and surf the net everywhere!” – from Kristin – Click here for direct link to idea 309

“Dynamos (electriciy genertors) to be fitted to all aerobic (bikes, ect ) gym equipt to produce electric for the uni. Its wasted otherwise!” – from Darren – Click here for direct link to idea 312

“Lectures filmed and put on blackboard, instead of just note formed powerpoint presentation. This would make fantastic revision and recap” – from Kaley macis – Click here for direct link to idea 311

“Fix the potholes in carpark 20!!, we don’t like driving over them!” -  from Ross – Click here for direct link to idea 314

“Make sure all the toilets aren’t so nasty and that they actually have toilet roll” – from Debby – Click here for direct link to idea 323

Every vote counts so we really wanna see those fingers! GO!

Team BMC.

Neil Clark, the Media & IT Co-ordinator at UWESU, has decided to withdraw his first-place idea from the competition.

“Display & sell artwork (canvases / prints etc) by UWE artists at Frenchay, earning money for artists and making Frenchay more interesting.”

This idea has seen an unprecedented level of support during the heat, scoring significantly higher than the 2nd place idea. But while we are disappointed with his decision we feel that it is the right one.  Neil’s close involvement  and support for the competition could give him an unfair advantage and this would not be fair to other competitors.

Best for Neil to speak for himself:

“I’m really happy to see that the idea to display and sell artwork by UWE students has had such good support, but since the Beermat Challenge is aimed at generating ideas from students I think it’s only fair if I withdraw this idea  from the competition now.

I’m hoping I can help this simple idea become a reality and I know there’s support from key people in the SU at Bower Ashton and it would create a positive connection between students at Bower Ashton & Frenchay Campuses. Having regular exhibitions of student artwork on the main campus would give good exposure to UWE’s artists and there’s a large community of students and staff who may like to own some affordable and original artwork.”

David Brennand, Head of the Innovation & Enterprise Division at UWE, comments:

“It’s unfortunate but we feel Neil has made the right choice in withdrawing his idea for the good of the competition. Nevertheless the Innovation and Enterprise team at UWE look forward to working with the SU to develop this great idea. The Beermat Challenge continues to see a lot of interest from students, staff and alumni and it’s fantastic to see such a strong response to this and other ideas.”

This now leaves a very close race to the finish of the current heat for the new Top-Five ideas, with only a few votes separating them. More on that later today!

You will NOT be able to submit new ideas in the Final Round – New submissions will no longer be taken after the close of Heat4, so please don’t wait to submit your ideas.

Only the top 10 ideas from each of the Heats 1,2,3 and 4 will be eligible for entry into the final round to stand a chance of winning the Asus eeepc 1005HA Network.

So, make sure that you get your ideas in BEFORE THE END OF HEAT 4 to compete for entry into the Grand Final. Heat 4 closes on 26th Feb so don’t hesitate!

To be abundantly clear – Waiting for the final round to put in your great business idea is a very bad idea. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SUBMIT NEW IDEAS IN THE FINAL ROUND. If you want to win the Netbook, you MUST get your ideas in by the end of Heat 4 (26th Feb) to stand a chance.

Good Luck!