Previous Winners
Eventwolf
Allan Dixon a business studies student from DCU beat off stiff competition from hundreds of third level students across Ireland with his business proposal ‘Eventwolf’ scooping the coveted €10,000 top prize and title of ‘College Entrepreneur of The Year 2009’. Eventwolf is a unique new online social network that takes the idea of YouTube but replaces videos with limitless types of events located on Google’s rich interactive maps. Events will be positions on an interactive map such as music gigs, festivals, house parties, birthdays, an array of sporting events, athletic, ball, motor, extreme, water, meet-ups, food, travel, comedy etc, an endless list of possibilities. Users that register will have a choice on their profile based on whether they are a member of the public or if they would like to list events as an author.
Allan has now gone on to set his product up as a commercial business and has been helpd by Enterrpise Ireland to commercilise by attending one of our Enterprise START workshops. He is now a dynamic and budding Entrepreneur!
VisionRETM
This team including Kieran O’Callaghan, Mechanical Engineering and Etaoin Ni hAilpin and Norma Dowling, Business Studies students from Cork Institute of Technology scooped €7,500 prize for the the Most Technologically Innovative Idea Award: sponsored by Cruickshank Intellectual Property Attorneys in 2009.
The hallmark commercial product VisionRETM is a revolutionary Terrain / Obstacle Detection System for the Visually Impaired, designed and developed from student concept in conjunction with the National Council for the Blind Ireland. The Vision Research Enterprises company name and brand Vision RETM (phonetically Visionary) reflects the main technology development / research interests, commercial applications, entrepreneurial ethos and ethical fundamentals central to the advancement of the organisation. Vision RETM Experience and Milestones include:
- Best International Medical Engineering Device Design/Development Award 1st Place, London
- Siemens Engineers Ireland Best Irish Innovative Engineer of the Year Award 1st Place, Dublin
- Cork City and County Enterprise Board CIT Prize for Innovation 1st Place, Cork and Cork City and County Enterprise Board Feasibility Study Start-up Award, Ambassador for the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind.
Kieran O’Callaghan was also nominated for the Global Student Enterprise Awards November 2009 which takes place in Kansas in the USA. Kieran’s supervisor conveyed that the Student Enterprise awards were extremely important not alone in terms of Kieran’s progression in the global competition, but also in the advancement of his company and suite of innovative products.
Kieran has emerged as a serial entrepreneur and will be one to watch in the future as VisionRETM is only 1 project of many he is investing time in developing and commercialising.
2009 Winners!
Profile of Winning Team – ‘Eventwolf’ – College Entrepreneur of the Year 2009
Eventwolf – Dublin City University – (DCU) – Allan Dixon
This product is a unique new online social network that takes the idea of YouTube but replaces videos with limitless types of events located on Google’s rich interactive maps. Events will be positions on an interactive map such as music gigs, festivals, house parties, birthdays, an array of sporting events, athletic, ball, motor, extreme, water, meet-ups, food, travel, comedy etc, an endless list of possibilities. Users that register will have a choice on their profile based on whether they are a member of the public or if they would like to list events as an author.
Most Technologically Innovative Idea Award: sponsored by Cruickshank Intellectual Property Attorneys – €7,500
‘Vision RE’, Cork Institute of Technology (CIT)
Export Capability Award - €7,500
‘G-One Trading’, University College Cork (UCC)
Solving Problems for Industry Award - €7,500
‘Nebulaer’, Cork Institute of Professionalism of Business Approach Award - €7,500
‘In Sav’, Queens University Belfast
Awards of Merit
‘Baby Milk Maker’, University of Ulster, ‘Rigi Jig’, CIT, and ‘Neonatal EEG’, UCC were presented with awards of merit worth €2,500.
2008 Winners!
1. Overall Winner – University of Ulster – Undergraduate Finalist
‘Uberfeet’ – Aisling O’Neill, Lisa Donnell, Amanda Nesbitt, Ciara Jordan
Uberfeet is a revolutionary new product designed to help women have a pain free, comfortable journey after wearing painful shoes. Uberfeet is sold in a package comprising of a pair of light-weight comfortable disposable shoes with a re-usable bag to carry the worn shoes in. The product is unique due to the inexpensive and disposable aspect to the product. Its competitive advantage is that the product will be sold in vending machines to its target market in various venues, not only on line, at a low cost. The key markets that Uberfeet will have an interest in are the vending market, pub/club industry where they will target the product to the customer as a fashion product and end of the night purchase to relieve sore feet. They will also target Airports where Uberfeet can become a necessity for tired travellers.
2. Second Prize – Queens University Belfast – Undergraduate Finalist
‘Pulse’ – John Begley, Olivia Crilly, Michael Hooks, Andrew Hunter, Frank McCullagh
Pulse is an aviation foot rest that can be integrated into current and future aircrafts. The benefit of the foot rest is that it can function as a DVT (Deep Venous Thrombosis) preventative device by allowing the user to do necessary onboard exercises. The footrest will be mounted to the seat of an aeroplane allowing the user to perform particular exercises that will reduce the risk of developing DVT. Pulse has a competitive advantage over existing footrests on the market as they have a medical benefit. The device will be developed for use with in flight entertainment systems in order to make the device more desirable to both children and adults.
3. Third Prize – UCD – Undergraduate Finalist
‘Right Booker’ – Johan P de Borst & Robert Fitzgerald
Right Booker gives customers the fastest possible way to book an appointment with a service provider. This enhances the competitiveness of service providers by enabling their customers to book them online via a simple yet powerful web page containing a profile with booking engine. Unlike traditional listing, Right Booker is an Open Listing Service, meaning the service providers can manually edit their own profile, their online booking engine, or calendar of availability. The team have estimated that acquiring 686 service providers or 10% or the Dublin service market will represent €325k in revenue per annum.
4. Postgraduate Winner – University College Cork – Postgraduate Finalist
‘Flytech’ – Cian Hourihane, Donal O’Sullivan, James Kaova, Áine O’Dwyer, Eoin Murnane.
Flytech aims to provide quality automated trading strategies to future traders by providing the trader with faster, more efficient trading, thus allowing advantage to be taken over the ever moving marketing conditions. Flytech, allows the trader to choose the strategy, set their price and simply click a button and the ATA do the work. In essence this means the trader will never miss their desired trade. The product also has great export potential market opportunities as it is designed to trade with the GLOBEX platform and will service a majority of stock exchanges throughout the world.
5. Postgraduate Runner Up – University College Cork – Postgraduate Finalist
‘Vital Technology Solutions’ – Michael O’Flynn, Liam Lynch, Grainne O’Sullivan, Daniel Jackson, Jamie O’Donoghue, Rian O’Brien
Vital Technology Solutions aim is to revolutionise the critical care market in the Irish Medical/Healthcare sector. V-Sense is a solution to the numerous problems that medical professionals and patients face every day in Emergency Departments (A&E) and Intensive Care Units (ICU). V-Sense proposes to provide an easy transition for medical staff from conventional hospital monitors to the V-Sense GUI. A product of this nature does not exist in Ireland or internationally to date. V-Sense is distinctive in that it records and monitors a patient’s heart rate, blood pressure, blood/oxygen level, body temperature and ECD. The information is sent to a central workstation where it will display ‘real-time’ activity of patient’s vital signs, the patient’s personal details and medical history. V-Sense will overcome current issues faced in critical medial environments such as time, cost, patient care, the hassles of wires and improved patient control.
6. Cruickshanks Technologically Innovative idea& Award of Merit – CIT – Cork Institute of Technology – Undergraduate Finalist
‘Med-O-Ware’ – Peter Sullivan, Michelle Bouse, Carmel Linehan, Xiao Fang Zhang
Med-O-Ware is a medial device which eliminates air bubbles in the infusion process before they reach the patients’ bloodstream. It allows medical staff to attend to other duties and reduces the patients’ recovery time as there is less interruption to the IV system. The 360 degree capabilities and the air elimination aspects of Med-O-Ware are their two unique selling points. The team believe this product can change the face of IV therapy. It will make the infusion process safer, improve patient recovery time, ultimately reduce patient bed time and help patient flow through hospitals, which is a contentious issue at present.
7 . Award of Merit – Carlow Institute of technology – Undergraduate Finalist
‘Cooling Pads’ – Catrina Keegan
The cooling pad with re-designed thermometer provides a system that allows parents to reduce their child’s fever and also monitor it. The cooling pads give parents peace of mind and provide an advantage over its competitors due to its convenience, ease of use, reliability and are stress-free for both parent and child. The main benefits of the cooling pads are that they provide both a means of reducing the child’s temperature, through the actual cooling pads, and monitoring the child’s temperature through the redesigned digital thermometer. The cooling pads are made up of two pieces of nylon one for the nape of the neck and one for the groin and chemical cool packs.
8. Award of Merit – Tallaght Institute of Technology – TLIT – Undergraduate Finalist
‘N2-Fix’ Biotic Fertiliser – Catherine Maher, Des O’Connor, Suzanne Cummins
This revolutionary product N2-Fix bio-fertiliser is an alternative fertiliser product that utilises naturally occurring micro-organisms in soil that extract nitrogen gas and produces nitrogen salts. The use of the chemical fertilisers is regarded as vital in agricultural production. Recently, there have been concerns about the affects fertilisers have on the environment. Traditional nitrogen fertiliser can impair water quality and ultimately make it unsuitable for drinking or as a habitat for wildlife. The unique selling point of N2-Fix Bio Fertiliser is that it is capable of acting as a safe and environmentally sustainable alternative. This entirely unique product utilises bio transforming fertilising bacteria in a non-toxic biodegradable bead. The team estimate that N2-FIX will replace 2 to 5% of conventional nitrogen fertilisers per annum.
