Autism App Wins 2017 BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp
Last Thursday saw the culmination of the 8th BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp. 29 wonderful students took part in the 4 day commercialisation programme. If we could have given awards to them all we would!
The overall winners were selected by a judging panel which included Dr Tony Scott, co-founder of YSE; Shay Walsh of BT Ireland; Malcolm Byrne of HEA, Gearoid Mooney of Enterprise Ireland and Conor Brophy of RTE . They were really amazed by the standard of all the presentations.
The winning project is an app based on applied behavior analysis to enhance early intervention programs, and to encourage children with autism make eye contact. Ciara-Beth Ni Ghríofa, aged 17, from Coláiste an Eachréidh in Galway; Ella Brennan, aged 16, from Loreto Secondary School in Kilkenny; George Hennessy, aged 17, from Midleton College in Cork; Lucy Leonard, aged 15, from Tullamore College in Offaly; and Steven Harris, aged 18, from Luttrellstown Community College in Dublin, won best overall team at the 8th annual BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp. The team impressed the judges with their well-planned and thought out business pitch for Mi Contact, which they presented this afternoon at NovaUCD. The project idea was created by Ciara-Beth as her entry to the 2017 BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition in January this year.
Jack O’Connor, aged 18, from Desmond College in Limerick was recognised as the best individual student for demonstrating his in-depth understanding of the process of bringing an idea he had on paper all the way through to project commercialisation.
Congratulating all the participants at the BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp award ceremony this afternoon, Shay Walsh, Managing Director, BT Ireland, said; “We’ve had a fantastic week here at the 2017 BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp, as we’ve watched the transformation of this talented group of people from creative young students into aspiring entrepreneurs. As judges and mentors, we’ve been inspired by their growing confidence and ability; and feel a sense of pride as a company to be able to support the next generation of business leaders, academics and professionals. I’d like to congratulate our winning team and indeed everyone who took part in the workshop this week and look forward to following your careers in the years to come.”
Professor Orla Feely, UCD Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact said, “University College Dublin, through UCD Research and Innovation, is delighted to continue working in partnership with BT Ireland to deliver the annual BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp at NovaUCD. I would like to congratulate the overall Bootcamp winners, and all the students who participated on this year’s programme, and I hope in the near future to see their ideas transformed into businesses impacting Ireland’s economy and society."
The Bootcamp is the brainchild of BT, one of world’s leading communications and IT providers, and the organiser and sponsor of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition. Throughout the week the groups were coached by a dedicated BT business mentor and learned the fundamentals of critical business applications such as patenting, business development, sales, marketing and presentation skills.