Enterprise Ireland and Invest NI launch entrepreneurship awards for third level students
Prize fund of €30,000 cash and €30,000 consultancy for enterprising
students
The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD today
(Monday 6th October 2014) launched the Enterprise Ireland Student
Entrepreneur Awards 2015. This is part of a major drive aimed at tapping
into the potential for students and young people to turn their
entrepreneurial ideas into commercial businesses. This is a great
opportunity for ambitious and enterprising third level students to build a
real-world business venture and at the same time be in with a chance to win
a prize from the overall €35,000 cash prize fund, which includes a €10,000
first prize, as well as a €30,000 consultancy fund.
The Student Entrepreneur Awards 2015 which are co-sponsored by Enterprise
Ireland, Invest Northern Ireland, Cruickshank Intellectual Property
Attorneys, Grant Thornton and Intel, are open to all full time third level
students in the island of Ireland and are Ireland’s biggest and longest
established student enterprise competition for third level student teams
from the whole island.
Minister Bruton said:”Two thirds of all new jobs come from start-ups in the
first five years of existence, according to Central Bank data. That is why
we have put start-ups right at the centre of our jobs plan – in Ireland we
have great entrepreneurs and start-ups, we just don’t have enough of them.
The Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneur Awards aim to support and
encourage more students to start their own businesses and really consider
enterprise as a valid career option. I encourage students across our
universities and colleges to avail of the specialist advice and assistance
on offer and enter the competition”.
The priority is to get students thinking now about starting their own
business as a career option once they graduate. The sponsors also bring
their expertise to nurturing the finalists in the competition to
commercialise their business by providing them with expert guidance in
areas such as intellectual property, market research, finances, technology
development, public relations and advertising, all aimed at supporting
young entrepreneurs to develop viable businesses and create jobs.
Third level students represent a seed bed for future business start-ups and
last year’s finalists who attended the launch are a great example of the
commercial potential for student entrepreneurs;
Darren O’Connor from UL with his company Motus won the Intel High Achieving
Merit award 2014. Motus is a complete joint rehabilitation and treatment
system that motivates the client to achieve their recovery goals and
empowers the physiotherapist in making effective treatment decisions for
the benefit of their client. The product provides a constant link between
the physiotherapist and the client, thus maintaining a structured and
motivated approach to the rehabilitation process.
Dr Eric Risser from TCD with his company Artomatix won the Roots in
Research Award 2014. Artomatix solves the problem that digital art
creation for the video game and movie industries takes too long and costs
too much. Artomatix technology enables a computer to simulate human-like
artistic creativity. This software helps digital artists make art faster,
cheaper and better. Eric Risser identified a gap in the animation and
digital art industry and developed a Texture Synthesis Based Hybridisation
for Images and Geometry technology in response.
The Roots in Research award is an exciting new aspect to the Student
Entrepreneur Awards that recognises a student or group’s ability to spot
the commercial potential of the state-funded research project which they
are involved in.
Tom Hayes, Enterprise Ireland’s Head of Entrepreneurship, added: “The
Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneur Awards campaign features a host of
approaches to reach the students and make sure they get every encouragement
and support to develop viable business plans. We encourage them to team up
with their colleagues and friends from other faculties to be innovative,
collaborative and creative on coming up with products that will help them
explore their ideas and own appetite for going into business for
themselves.”
Following on from last year’s success students are requested to submit a
video that captures how great their idea is and shows commercial and export
potential. Other features of the competition include a website, facebook
page, twitter account and pod casts – reaching out to students in the world
that they know best. The sponsors are currently supporting all of the
internal entrepreneurship competitions within the institutions on the
island of Ireland with a €500 cash sponsorship prize for each college.
Executives from Enterprise Ireland and Invest NI will be presenting the
details of the competition to all colleges and institutions between now and
the closing date for the competition on 17 March 2015.
For more information visit the website on:-
www.studententrepreneurawards.com