A CHIEF executive is keeping his cool as he anxiously awaits to find out if his life-saving invention has been selected for the Duke of York's start-up businesses initiative.

Jonathan Weinberg, who lives in Great Tew, has until Tuesday to see if his 'cooling vest', called the CAERvest, will be crowned the People's Choice at the Pitch@Palace event at St James's Palace, which allows entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas to business leaders.

The device, which was used to help three heatstroke victims during a trial at the 2015 London Marathon, aims to help those who fall ill in high temperatures by cooling the body.

The 35-year-old has big aspirations for the vest and following interest from overseas, he hopes securing the award will catapult it into the spotlight in the UK.

Mr Weinberg, who is also the founder of Bodychillz which makes the vest, said: "It was a great honour to be selected as one of the UK's 12 most promising entrepreneurs for 2017. However accolades aside what really matters is that my product has already saved human life.

"What could be better than knowing a product you helped bring to market has actually stopped someone from dying?

"We are hoping that the added exposure from Pitch@Palace will raise awareness of our device and therefore help us save more lives."

The vest, which costs £500, does not need an energy source and the portable device is placed over the patient's stomach and filled with liquid to turn to ice within seconds.

The liquid reacts with a chemical powder in panels in the vest for a quick cooling effect and can last for about an hour.

And like heated hand warmers people use during the colder months, once the vest has been activated it cannot be re-used again.

CAERvest has been ordered in by construction companies in the Middle East that want to prevent construction workers fatalities and Mr Weinberg has also secured a contract with 'British elite troops.'

Mr Weinburg developed the idea after discussing the benefits of cold treatment with Dr Rowley Cottingham, an emergency consultant at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust, in 2013.

Mr Weinberg said: "Rowley gave us this brief and we've spent the past few years fleshing it out.

"Doctors are keen to cool the bodies of patients who suffer cardiac arrest, because it is thought it protects the brain against the damaging effects of oxygen starvation.

"The theory is that a cooled brain needs less oxygen and will deteriorate less quickly."

But therapeutic hypothermia actually had its roots several centuries before Dr Cottingham's idea.

Mr Weinberg said: "During the Napoleonic Wars at the end of a battle the soldiers, depending on how badly wounded they were separated into groups.

"Those that weren't too badly injured were sent to go by the fire, whereas the ones they thought wouldn't survive were left outside in the snow.

"It turns out that the ones left out in the snow were more likely to survive."

Pitch@Palace was founded by the Duke of York.

To vote for CAERvest visit: pitchatpalace.com/vote and to view Mr Weinberg's pitch visit: youtube.com/watch?v=h5NpyB6qhQ0