ivenTUre Final Pitches & Graduation June 2024

Published: 7 Jun, 2024

ivenTUre Final Pitches & Graduation June 2024

What an incredible Finals & Graduation event for the 4th TU Dublin ivenTUre program!

The overall winner for this year is Ellen Gaffney, with a winning prize of €1,000, with her incredible Beag Bakery @beagbakery. Sticky cinnamon bunds - Simple ingredients, simple instructions, delicious homemade treats.

Winner:

Ellen Gaffney just completed her first year of Culinary Entrepreneurship on City Campus. Beag Bakery offers a range of ready-to-bake sweet treats that brings the warm and comforting smell of freshly baked goods to your home. ‘We don't believe that you should have to compromise so with Beag Bakery you can have your cake and eat it too.’ Ellen, Beag Bakery founder.

Finalists:

Kinaestech - Eoin Whittle & Boris Nikolov. Eoin & Boris are in the 4^th year of Product Design, and are developing a fitness wearable weightlifting.

Grade Easy - Patrick Haughey. Patrick has just completed his final year in business computing, and is the founder of Grade Easy. Grade Easy is a mobile and web application that uses artificial intelligence to correct leaving cert student exam papers and provide detailed feedback on how to improve. Students can also view higher graded peer answers and allows those peers to earn revenue from their answers being viewed. Finally, it recommends college courses to students based on their subject choices and performance.

Human Factor AI - Joseph Mietkiewicz. Joseph is currently in the third year of his PhD program, and he is the founder of "Human Factor AI". Human Factor AI is a business focused on predicting failures in the chemical industry. ‘We utilize interpretable AI to anticipate both technical and human errors, enhancing operational efficiency and safety.’ Joseph, Human Factor AI founder.

Vinnu Earbuds - Nihar Choudary Potluri. Nihar is on his 4^th year of Product Design and he is developing Vinnu Earbuds that helps to reduce auditory distraction.

Special mentions:

Jack Doyle with his e-coli testing product might have been here, only he was wanted down in Cork today as a finalist in the Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneurship Awards – we wish him well.
Thokozille Phiri’s online store for African Print design ready to wear clothing has fantastic potential. Good luck with it.
Emer Sexton’s platform that links customers and regional food companies with local farmers is a really solid business idea with important sustainability benefits.
Ruben Kenny’s card game with board game elements could be a monster of a business in the future.
And the team idea - from Bohdan Yeriemienko, Giana Nuncio, Alan O’Regan and Ugochukwo Uzoukwu – their Refridge idea which is about having a sustainable community fridge on campus, reducing food waste and food poverty – again a really important idea with significant sustainability and social benefits.

Congratulations to all the participants, their participation and engagement was brilliant. We had a fabulous mix of students from different disciplines within the university, and a great diversity of business ideas. We are sure they will go on to have very successful entrepreneurial careers, and we look forward to following their future entrepreneurship adventurers.

To our guest speakers and guests:

Gavan Cleary (GROWTHhub Entrepreneurship Education Facilitator)
Gerry Moan (Entrepreneurship Education Facilitator)
Susan Spence (Softco co-founder)
Ciara Walsh (JustTip co-founder)
Shawna Johnstown (TU Dublin Innovation)
Seán Breen (TU Dublin GROWTHhub Entrepreneurial Student of the Year Award 2023)
Noel Davidson (Director of Training at the Entrepreneurs Academy)

A big thank you to our judges.

Finals:

Vincent Cleary (Glenisk MD)
Anastasia Negru (Margins AI CEO & Founder)
Oisín Lennon (Danu Sports CEO & Founder)

Semi-finals:

Laura Enache (TU Dublin New Frontiers Programme Manager)
Diane Hurley (TU Dublin New Frontiers Programme Manager)
John Jameson (Head of school at TU Dublin)

Find out more: www.tudublin.ie/iventure

#HCIpillar3 #CollaborationNation #tudublingrowthhub #tudublinenterpriseengagement #studententerpreneurship

GROWTHhub project is funded by the Higher Education Authority's HCI Pillar 3, a government programme designed to meet priority skills needs, by increasing collaboration between higher education and enterprise with a focus on innovations in teaching and learning.