Miss Elmslie (21) is doing her part by developing Bike Bright - a laser light mounted on the back of cycles that created a lane around it, showing motorists the space to leave around the cyclist.
It is one of the top 20 ideas selected after round one of the Audacious business challenge.
The year-long student start-up challenge is jointly supported by the University of Otago, Otago Polytechnic and the Dunedin City Council.
Miss Elmslie, a fourth-year student doing a masters degree in applied science, was not sure how she thought of the concept.
She wanted to enter Audacious but did not initially have an idea. The light idea ''just came to me'' three days before entries were due.
She submitted it on deadline and admitted it had been ''a bit of a whirlwind'' to get it in.
Cycle safety was an issue not only in Dunedin but throughout New Zealand and she believed her idea had a good chance of doing well, she said.
At this stage, she did not have a prototype but she believed it should be fairly simple to produce.
She had already been approached by someone who was interested in helping her with ideas and making a prototype.
She expected it would sell for about $20, which was the typical cycle light range, she said.
There was also an indicator setting for when a cyclist was turning a corner at night, with an arrow shining on the ground.
While there were similar products on the market, they were not aimed at accidents occurring from the rear, which was where the majority of accidents happened, she said.
A spin-off could be that people who were previously nervous about cycling on busy roads might start doing so because they felt they had protection, she said.
She was excited about the potential of the product and ''quite intrigued'' about what the next stage of Audacious would entail.
Another cycling-related product has been entered by Sophie Sanders and Kila Hepi.
Cycling Cyclods was a slip-on shoe cover to protect the cleats on cycling shoes while allowing the cyclist to walk around.
Walking around was an issue for cyclists as they could either fall or damage their expensive shoes, Miss Sanders said.
She first got the idea when she was doing an assignment at Otago Polytechnic last year on solving a sports problem.
That led to some funds to do some prototypes and she was partway through doing that.
Miss Sanders, who is in her second year studying sports management and coaching, was now encouraged to possibly study business next year.
Making the donation of human organs easier has been the quest of third-year university students Daniel Kermode and Michael Catterall.
It was the brainchild of Mr Catterall, a medical student, and the aim was to provide information about organ donations.
Now they had made the top 20 in Audacious, they were keen to make it ''a bit more serious'', Mr Kermode said.
It was very charity-based, as against making a profit. Organ donation levels in New Zealand were quite low and that was quite a big issue so they were keen to make it easier for people.
Masters of entrepreneurship student Keir Russell and his flat-mates Mariya Semenova and Ryan Walker have designed a camera mount system aimed at the property market.
It allowed production of very fast, high resolution 360deg video and photographs, at an affordable rate, Mr Russell said.
He believed they were ''basically redefining the market'' and making it a product for ''every real estate experience''.
Despite only recently starting the project, they already had a working prototype of the mount and their first investor.
Mr Russell loved the Audacious programme and was looking forward to getting feedback from the judges on the first round.
Describing it as a great experience for students, he encouraged others to enter and it was ''cool'' to see several people he had helped also named in the top 20.
Reidar Paulson and Sam Gray have been working with the Visual Impairment Charitable Trust Aotearoa NZ (Victa) to help resolve an issue for visually impaired people.
While there was now great technology for the visually impaired, such as audio books or larger print books, often people had difficulty getting access to them, Mr Paulson said.
The pair were about to start the final prototype of a scanner that scanned chips in books or DVDs or CDs in libraries and read aloud the title, author or musician, and a synopsis.
The device would sit at the main counter of the library, where people had easy access to it.
It would ensure the visually impaired did not need to pick books at random, as many said they did now, and give them back some independence, Mr Paulson said.
He had done extensive research and believed there was no similar product available.
The Dunedin Public Library was waiting for them to get the prototype up and running so they could do some tests, he said.
Libraries around the world were ''pretty much standardised'' in the way they used technology so the device had the potential to be used globally, he said.
The second round of Audacious involves students submitting a business plan and then pitching their concept in a Dragons' Den scenario. The final awards will be held in September.
