Six teams, with a total of 16 team members, have been short listed for the final of SUSSED!, UCD’s €10K Entrepreneurship Competition. The teams have submitted business plans covering sectors such as the environment, information and communication technology and sports and leisure.
The objective of this competition, organised by NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre, is to transform business ideas emerging from students and early-stage researchers at UCD into business plans and commercial enterprises.
The winners of the SUSSED! Competition will share a €10,000 prize fund, receive 6-months free incubation space in NovaUCD and obtain professional support in forming their new ventures. The overall winner will also represent UCD in the Europe-wide UNICA Entrepreneurship Competition for Students and Young Researchers which takes place later this year.
The short listed teams will now go forward to the “Dragons’ Den” phase of the competition, to be held later this month, when each team will make a formal pitch to the Judging Panel who will select the top three prize-winners.
The members of the SUSSED! Judging Panel are; Eamonn Fallon, Managing Director and co-founder, Daft.ie; Dan Maher, founder, Nua Venture; Nicola Mitchell, Managing Director and founder, Life Scientific; Dr Brian Kelly, CEO and co-founder, Celtic Catalysts and Dr Pat Frain, Director, NovaUCD.
NovaUCD is responsible for the commercialisation of intellectual property arising from UCD research. NovaUCD provides entrepreneurs and knowledge-based start-up companies with a comprehensive business support programme in addition to incubation space and related facilities and services.
ENDS
4 June 2009
For further information contact Micéal Whelan, NovaUCD, e-mail: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie, tel: (01) 716 3712.
Editors Notes
Short Listed Teams
Coast2Coast Coaching is running soccer camps for children in partnership with city and school districts in southern California. It is the first and only day camp provider in the US to use Irish coaches. The team leader is Chris Murphy, an MBA student in UCD’s Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.
FlyFit aims to provide fully equipped exercise gym and relaxation facilities operating out of large international airport terminals. The team leader is Matthew Gleeson, an undergraduate student in UCD’s Quinn School of Business.
HeyStaks Technologies is developing a software application that makes it easier for users to organise and share their internet search experiences. The team leader is Dr Maurice Coyle, an early-stage researcher in UCD’s School of Computer Science and Informatics.
OlympOzone is developing a system which uses ozone technologies to disinfect and treat swimming pools more cost efficiently and more environmentally friendly than chlorine and without the negative health side-effects associated with chlorine by-products. The team leader is Sinead Quinn, an undergraduate student in UCD’s School of Biology and Environmental Science.
Sustainable Meter aims to provide water consumers with a low cost, user friendly, real-time, web-enabled digital water flow measurement system. The team leader is Dr Tom Curran, an early-stage researcher in UCD’s School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine.
XIT is developing a travel planning software application that allows users to plan and make holiday reservations sourcing information from multiple websites, friends’ emails, and social networks. It produces a neat hard copy of the final itinerary or one that can be downloaded to a hand-held electronic device. The team leader is Kevin O'Shaughnessy, a postgraduate student in UCD’s National Institute of Technology Management.
SUSSED! is UCD’s €10K Entrepreneurship Competition designed to showcase the energy and ideas emerging from UCD. The competition, which closed on May 15th, was open to all undergraduate and postgraduate students and early-stage researchers at UCD.
NovaUCD is University College Dublin’s Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre. NovaUCD is responsible for the commercialisation of intellectual property arising from UCD research and for the development of co-operation with industry and business. NovaUCD has been funded through a unique public-private partnership that includes AIB Bank, Arthur Cox, Deloitte, Enterprise Ireland, Ericsson, Goodbody Stockbrokers, UCD and Xilinx.
