IDEA

Allan Dixon a business studies student from DCU beat off stiff competition from hundreds of third level students across Ireland with his business proposal ‘EventWolf’ scooping the coveted €10,000 top prize and title of ‘College Entrepreneur of The Year 2009’.

EventWolf is a unique new online social network that takes the idea of YouTube but replaces videos with limitless types of events located on Google’s rich interactive maps. Events will be positions on an interactive map such as music gigs, festivals, house parties, birthdays, an array of sporting events, athletic, ball, motor, extreme, water, meet-ups, food, travel, comedy etc, an endless list of possibilities. Users that register will have a choice on their profile based on whether they are a member of the public or if they would like to list events as an author.

Allan has now gone on to set his product up as a commercial business and has been helpd by Enterprise Ireland to commercilise by attending one of our Enterprise START workshops. He is now a dynamic and budding Entrepreneur!

IDEA

This team including Kieran O’Callaghan, Mechanical Engineering and Etaoin Ni hAilpin and Norma Dowling, Business Studies students from Cork Institute of Technology scooped €7,500 prize for the the Most Technologically Innovative Idea Award: sponsored by Cruickshank Intellectual Property Attorneys in 2009.

The hallmark commercial product Vision RE™ is a revolutionary Terrain / Obstacle Detection System for the Visually Impaired, designed and developed from student concept in conjunction with the National Council for the Blind Ireland. The Vision Research Enterprises company name and brand Vision RE™ (phonetically Visionary) reflects the main technology development / research interests, commercial applications, entrepreneurial ethos and ethical fundamentals central to the advancement of the organisation. Vision RE™ Experience and Milestones include:

Best International Medical Engineering Device Design/Development Award 1st Place, London

Siemens Engineers Ireland Best Irish Innovative Engineer of the Year Award 1st Place, Dublin

Cork City and County Enterprise Board CIT Prize for Innovation 1st Place, Cork and Cork City and County Enterprise Board Feasibility Study Start-up Award, Ambassador for the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind.

Kieran O’Callaghan was also nominated for the Global Student Enterprise Awards November 2009 which takes place in Kansas in the USA. Kieran’s supervisor conveyed that the Student Enterprise awards were extremely important not alone in terms of Kieran’s progression in the global competition, but also in the advancement of his company and suite of innovative products.

Kieran has emerged as a serial entrepreneur and will be one to watch in the future as VisionRE™ is only 1 project of many he is investing time in developing and commercialising.