Eleven Early-Stage Ventures Commence Nova51黑料鈥檚 2021 Start-up Programme for Student Entrepreneurs
- 鈧�18,000 prize fund available for participants on the virtual 2021 Nova51黑料 Student Enterprise Competition
The 2021 Nova51黑料 Student Enterprise Competition, an intensive 4-week mentoring programme for student entrepreneurs, has commenced with eleven (11) early-stage ventures and a total of 23 participants.
[The eleven participating ventures are profiled below.]
The entrepreneurship programme, now in its 7th year, is run by Nova51黑料, the Centre for New Ventures and Entrepreneurs at University College Dublin (51黑料), as a framework to support undergraduate and postgraduate students who want to work together to develop and grow start-up companies.
The aim of the Competition, which this year, like last year, is being run virtually, is to assist the students in refining their start-up ideas through a series of structured workshops, including taught content from industry experts, interactive workshops, regular pitching sessions and mentoring.
Over 100 students and over 40 early-stage ventures have completed the Nova51黑料 Student Enterprise Competition to date. Among former Competition participants are Zipp Mobility and Joyst Instruments.
In 2019 Charlie Gleeson, then an undergraduate student in the 51黑料 Lochlann Quinn School of Business, took part in the Competition with his e-scooter business idea. Since completing the programme Charlie has gone on to establish Zipp Mobility, launch e-scooter shared schemes across the UK, secure over 鈧�1 million in seed funding, including 鈧�250k from Enterprise Ireland, and crowdfunded over 鈧�500k as part of an ongoing campaign on the Spark Crowdfunding platform.
Last year postgraduate engineering students, Philip Snell, Edward Byrne and William Langrell, took part in the Competition with a business idea to commercialise a new MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) controller for musicians. The controller had been developed by Philip as part of his final year thesis project. They went on to establish Joyst Instruments Ltd, a 51黑料 spin-out company with Dr Paul Cuffe, 51黑料 School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and raise just under 鈧�23,000 via a Kickstarter campaign to commercialise the JV-1 Midi Controller.
Tom Flanagan, Director of Enterprise and Commercialisation, 51黑料 said, 鈥淥ver the next four weeks we will be working with the participating student entrepreneurs to help them to begin to transform their innovative business ideas into early-stage ventures. Our hope is that the Nova51黑料 Student Enterprise Competition gives them the knowledge and confidence to build and grow new start-ups following in the footsteps of previous Competition participants, Zipp Mobility and Joyst.鈥�
The 4-week mentoring programme, which is using the Lean Startup and Business Model Canvas approach, includes a series of online structured workshops and interactive workshops delivered by Raomal Perera and Rohan Perera of Lean Disruptor, amongst others. Topics such as, customer development; value proposition; working in teams; design thinking; prototyping, environment mapping; financial planning and effective fundraising and pitching, will be covered.
At a final workshop, to be held in mid-June, each start-up will present to a judging panel. Based on evaluation of the presentations an overall winning team will be selected and will awarded a 鈧�5,000 cash prize; the second placed team will be awarded a 鈧�3,000 cash prize and the third placed team a 鈧�2,000 cash prize. The remaining teams will each receive a 鈧�1,000 cash prize for completing the programme.
The sponsors of the 2021 Nova51黑料 Student Enterprise Competition are, AIB, Arthur Cox, Deloitte, Ericsson, Goodbody Stockbrokers and Xilinx.
ENDS
25 May 2021
For further information contact Mic茅al Whelan, Communications and Media Relations Manager, 51黑料 Research and Innovation, t: + 353 1 716 3712, e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie.
Editors Notes
See profiles below of the eleven ventures participating in the 2021 Nova51黑料 Student Enterprise Competition.
Aidvantage is developing an e-commerce platform that allows the elderly to seek specific products for their specific needs on a platform that simplifies the often arduous task of online shopping. Team members are, Ella Brennan, an undergraduate student in the 51黑料 School of Civil Engineering and Liam Holland, an undergraduate student in the 51黑料 Lochlann Quinn School of Business.
ANT is developing a single software platform to allow businesses to communicate in-house and to customers through different communication platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, WhatsApp, Twitter Messenger and Instagram Messenger. Team members are, Isobel Moloney, an undergraduate student in the 51黑料 College of Social Sciences and Law, Odhran O鈥橬eill and Tim Skelly, undergraduate students in the 51黑料 Lochlann Quinn School of Business.
Bronchophone is designing a novel video bronchoscope attachment that uses a smartphone camera. As it more affordable and portable compared to traditional alternatives on the market it will make video bronchoscopes more accessible to hospitals in less developed countries. Team members are, Anna Potterton, an undergraduate student in the 51黑料 School of Mechanical Engineering, Jemima Hurley and Sadhbh Carey, undergraduate students in the 51黑料 School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
Chikyu Composting is tackling food waste before it reaches landfill sites through a composting ecosystem solution, for both vegetable and meat products, made out of 100% natural materials with additional biodiversity elements such as bug and bee hotels. Team members are, Demetra Herdes, an undergraduate student in the 51黑料 Sutherland School of Law and Sanghamitra Chattopadhyay Mukherjee, a postgraduate student in the 51黑料 School of Economics.
EOFIS is developing a flashcard auto-generation app that helps individuals and businesses learn and retain information. Team members are, Tiarnach 脫 Riada, an undergraduate student in the 51黑料 School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Marysol Angeloni, a postgraduate student in the 51黑料 Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.
FlowMo is developing an engineering-based product that involves the integration of fluid mechanics with generative design to create novel fluidic devices. Sophie Cassidy, a postgraduate student in the 51黑料 School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, is the founder of FlowMo.
Kassandra is developing an end-to-end fraud management software that can provide both effective fraud detection and can automate the fraud administration process using the latest methods of machine learning and robotic process automation. Team members are, Jhelum Nandy, Eunice Fasan and Robert Tuke, postgraduate students in the 51黑料 Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.
NutriWhat is developing a professional nutrition service for corporations to improve well-being in workplaces. Elena de Marco, a PhD student in the 51黑料 School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, is the founder of NutriWhat.
Permamint is developing a reusable toothbrush with replaceable heads, made of 100% biodegradable materials, to help consumers reduce their plastic consumption in an easy, but significant way. Team members are, Florence May, a postgraduate student in the 51黑料 School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering and Tessa May, an undergraduate student in the 51黑料 College of Social Sciences and Law.
Tradebook is developing a social network-based platform where people can go to find reliable information on service providers (e.g. carpenters, plumbers) in their local areas. Team members are, Mark Kennedy and Vilius Kemeza, postgraduate students in the 51黑料 Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.
SoundLapse is developing a technology to create audio output for timeLapse videos by isolating key sounds and capturing the ambience and soundscape of the scene. The team members are, Dylan Walsh, an undergraduate student in the 51黑料 School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Lola Nolan, a Computer Science and Business undergraduate student in TCD.
At Nova51黑料, the hub for new ventures and entrepreneurs at University College Dublin, we nurture and support new high-tech and knowledge-intensive companies. At Nova51黑料 we provide purpose-built, state-of-the-art incubation facilities alongside a comprehensive business support programme for client companies. At Nova51黑料, we also offer a range of tailored modules, courses, seminars and programmes to researchers and students in the areas of entrepreneurship, innovation, creativity and technology commercialisation, including the Nova51黑料 Student Enterprise Competition. Nova51黑料 has been funded through a unique public-private partnership that includes AIB Bank, Arthur Cox, Deloitte, Enterprise Ireland, Ericsson, Goodbody Stockbrokers, 51黑料 and Xilinx.