Bolton Trust/TU Dublin Student Enterprise competition 2024 Grand Final
The 31st Grand Final of the Bolton Trust/ TU Dublin Student Enterprise Competition 2024 took place on Wednesday, 06 March, in Bolton Street and was hosted by Dr Colm O’Kane and Dr Jenny Munnelly, Co-chairs of this year’s organising committee.
Willie Bergin, Head of Design Engineering, welcomed the contestants and attendees on behalf of the University and commemorated Pat McCormack, former Head of Dept in DIT Bolton Street and chair of the Trust.
The organising committee of the competition, drawn from faculties across the University: Brendan Kennedy, Kevin Delaney, Gereva Hackett, Colm O'Kane and Jenny Munnelly, along with the chair of the Trust, Richard Heywood Jones
This year's competition attracted close to 100 student teams. Of these, 24 teams were selected to compete in four semi-finals, two of which took place in Bolton Street, one in Aungier Street, and one in Grangegorman Campuses. From these, our finalists emerged.
Memoria
The Ease of Mind Med Box empowers dementia patients by allowing them to have a say in their health. We take for granted that we can look after ourselves so easily, but for dementia patients, this is tough and lowers their self-esteem and confidence.
OMNOM Onigiri
OMNOM Onigiri is an Irish take on the traditional Japanese "onigiri" rice ball snack. It uses locally sourced ingredients wrapped in Irish seaweed. This nutritious snack is perfect for on-the-go eaters with busy lifestyles.
Wearable Assistant Device
A Wearable Assistant Device for the deaf and hard of hearing is a watch that listens for important noises and alerts the user when it detects them.
MathsCraft
MathsMate by MathsCraft is an easy-to-use mathematical tool that helps children with their studies. MathsCraft plans to promote the use of learning tools for children with learning difficulties and help them gain greater confidence in their abilities.
The judging panel comprised four experts in the field of enterprise:
- Dee Lyons, Founder and CEO of Examfly, a company currently in Bolton Trust's angel fund scheme
- Michael O'Dea, Senior Development Advisor, Enterprise Ireland's High Potential Startup Unit
- Claire McBride, Head of the Enterprise Academy, TU Dublin
- David McDonnell, Senior Manager, Campus Business Incubation, TU Dublin
Team Memoria won the overall award and a € 2,500 prize. It consists of four students: Kealan Stewart, Abbie Peard, Cathal O'Malley, and Vlad Vavro, all from Year 3 of the Product Design programme.
The winning team, Memoria, with their lecturers
Second place and a prize of €1,500 was awarded to OMNOM Onigiri (Rachel Dooley Adamson and Gary Smithers from 4th year BSc Culinary Entrepreneurship).
Joint Third place and a prize of €1000 went to MathsMate (Cian Cullen, Ross Jones, Jack Cody and Luke Doyle from 3rd year BSc Product Design) and Wearable Assistant Device (Lara Souza, Rachel Hazley, Denis Galusca, Daniel Comerford, Sudesh Gurung and Daniel Millard from 4th year BEng Mechanical engineering).
Special awards in three categories were also awarded on the night at a networking reception hosted jointly by the Bolton Trust and the School of Mechanical Engineering. These awards included the Michael Griffin Most Innovative Concept Award, which was given to team Aquametrics (Luke Coogan from BSc Design, Technology & Innovation), Most Viable Finances given to Grade Easy (Patrick Haughey from BSc Business Computing) and Best Sustainability given to team Clever Control (Cristobal Albistur, Connor Bosch, Tim Coyne, Sean Mackessy, Killian McMahon and Ntibimenya Lewis from the MEng Sustainable Electrical Energy Systems).
The runner-up Teams from each of the Semi-finals, Grade Easy, Eco Steamer, Trophy Room Treasures, and Trace, were each presented with a € 250 cheque.