A Northumberland innovator has won £50,000 of Government funding to scale-up her business and help the UK ‘build back better’ from the Covid pandemic.
Katharine Paterson is one of 40 female entrepreneurs to have scooped an Innovate UK Women in Innovation award, which recognise women who are pursuing breakthrough new business ideas.
Mrs Paterson founded her So To Company, headquartered at the Dissington Hall Enterprise Hub, to create her pioneering Karekot.
The product aims to remove the flaws of traditional nursery cots by reducing the opportunities for babies and toddlers to injure themselves while also protecting parents from injuring their backs when lifting their child in and out, through an ingenious drop-side mechanism.
The £50,000 cash injection means Mrs Paterson will be able to grow the business she founded after watching her own daughter, Evie, suffer repeated minor injuries after getting her legs trapped between the bars of her wooden cot.
She said: “I cried with absolute joy and relief when I found out I had been successful in the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards.
“The award could not have come at a better time as it enables us to finalise Karekot and hopefully secure orders and sales. This will then enable babies to sleep more safely and soundly, which is at the heart of what Karekot is all about.
“I’m really looking forward to benefiting from being part of a supportive Women in Innovation network, both from my peers and also from the extensive coaching and mentoring on offer.”
Science Minister Amanda Solloway, added: “As we build back better from Covid, it’s a priority of mine to continue equipping our brightest female innovators with the tools they need to succeed, while encouraging a new generation of women to come forward and pursue their ambitions.
“Today we are supporting one of Newcastle’s most trailblazing female entrepreneurs, helping them to turn their innovative ideas into a reality creating the products and services that will help improve our lives and boost our economy.”
The funding is part of the Government’s Women in Innovation Awards, delivered by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which seeks to boost the number of UK female entrepreneurs.
It forms a key part of the Government’s Research and Development Roadmap, published in July last year, which committed to supporting the UK’s innovators and risk-takers by backing entrepreneurs and start-ups with the funding needed to scale up their innovations.
Mrs Paterson says she thought she could fix the problems being encountered by her daughter by using cot bumpers. But she was shocked to discover these came with warnings of strangulation and suffocation. It led her to make a prototype of what she wanted a cot to be like, mocked up using muslin and pencils.
Mrs Paterson said: “This is where my journey started. I am not a designer, nor am I particularly creative, but from here on in, I was on a mission to help all babies sleep more safely and soundly.
“This is what set me off on my mission to create a cot bed which has systematically designed out all the hazards I, and countless other parents, face.”
Mrs Paterson, who studied at Newcastle University and the University of Sheffield, will focus on confirming final design, manufacturing, certification and protecting her existing patents with her project. She has secured a number of grants and loans and is close to finalising the design of Karekot.
Emily Nott, head of equality, diversity and inclusion at Innovate UK said: “We can’t wait to see what else these inspiring women achieve and how they can be an example to inspire the next generation and to encourage more women-led businesses in this country as we rebuild and recover.”
