SIX TEAMS of UCD students are battling it out for a chance to transform their business ideas into commercial reality in a new entrepreneurship competition.
The Sussed! competition, run by UCD’s innovation and technology transfer centre NovaUCD, was open to entries from the university’s under- and postgraduate students as well as early-stage researchers. Sussed! is designed to showcase the entrepreneurial energy and ideas emerging from UCD, and generated a lot of interest across the campus.
In addition to sharing a prize fund of €10,000, the winners will receive a free incubation space in NovaUCD for six months and support in getting their venture off the ground. The overall winner will also represent UCD in the Europe-wide Unica entrepreneurship competition for students and young researchers later this year.
The entrants have now been whittled down to six teams. The short-listed teams will now face a Dragon’s Den-style challenge, which involves making a formal pitch to the judging panel.
The business ideas proposed by the six teams run the gamut from information and communication technology to sports and leisure.
The XIT team is developing a travel planning software application, while Sustainable Meter aims to provide consumers with a web-enabled digital water-flow measurement system. OlympOzone is developing a system that uses ozone technologies to disinfect swimming pools,which will be more cost-efficient and environmentally friendly than chlorine.
HeyStaks Technologies is developing software that makes it easier for people to organise and share their internet search experiences.
The Flyfit team, led by Matthew Gleeson, an undergraduate in the university’s Quinn School of Business, intends to operate gyms and relaxation facilities out of large international airport terminals, while Coast2Coast Coaching is already running soccer camps in California with Irish coaches.
The judging panel will announce the top three prize-winners later this month. The panel members include Eamonn Fallon, managing director of Daft.ie; Dan Maher, founder of Nua Venture and Dr Pat Frain of NovaUCD.
