Bolton Trust / TU Dublin Student Enterprise Competition 2021 Grand Final

Published: 4 May, 2021

This year's Bolton Trust / TU Dublin Student Enterprise Competition 2021 Grand Final took place remotely on Wednesday, 24 March.

It was co-hosted by Richard Heywood Jones, Chair of the Bolton Trust, and Dr Jenny Munnelly, Chair of the Enterprise Competition committee and Senior Lecturer in the School of Management, TU Dublin. The President of the University, Prof. David FitzPatrick, also joined the event speaking to the entrepreneurial successes of Bolton Trust and how fostering innovation supports TU Dublin's aim of "creating a better world together". Daniel Morgan, a member of the winning team in 2015 and currently Interaction and Service Designer at Fjord, Accenture Interactive’s design and innovation practice, also joined to talk about how his participation in the competition shaped his career. 

In the 29th year of the competition, the competition received entries, which consisted of business plans and a video pitch from over sixty student teams across TU Dublin. Twenty-eight teams presented at the semi-final stage earlier this year, and eight were chosen as finalists. A panel of four judges examined the teams' business plans through reports and online Q&A sessions.

  • Teri Smith, Manager HPSU Start - High Potential Start-Up Division, Enterprise Ireland;
  • Daniel Morgan, Interaction and Service Designer at Fjord
  • Shawna Johnston, Business Development Manager, Hothouse, TU Dublin;
  • Paul Anderson, Business Advisor, AIB

The winner of first place and a prize of €2,500 was team Remedy.  Remedy consists of four students from the 3rd year of the Product Design programme – Simon Akos, Cian O'Curnain, Jack Ledesma and Niall Kelly.  The Remedy business plan is centred around their first product, PSAid. PSAid is a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) home testing kit that measures PSA levels in the blood and allows monitoring via a smartphone app. 

Second place and a prize of €1,500 was awarded to Opus Tec and their Wireless ECG device product Minerva, a company formed by Mati Remi, Alexander Fives, Dan O’Brien and Fiachra Durkan.   They are 3rd-year students from TU Dublin’s Product Design programme. Minerva ECG aims to “Radically improving patient quality of life through design innovation” using its truly wireless electrocardiogram system.  

Third place and a prize of €1,000 went to Elemental Agri-tech, a company founded by Rusty Paul, Goerge Kenny, Tomas Galione and Shane Brodigan. They are also 3rd-year students from TU Dublin’s Product Design programme, and their product ShedSense uses sensors to monitor slurry gas levels on farms. 

The Michael Griffin Commemorative Innovation Trophy was awarded to Mirr by Jack O'Regan Kenny, a 1st year Mechatronic Engineering student in TU Dublin Blanchardstown. Mirr is a stylish touchscreen smart mirror that enables users to watch online content while using the reflective mirror. 

Highly Commended awards (€500 each) were awarded as follows:

  • Highly Commended in Design: Pathways (Thomas Callaghan, Paul Hendrick, Kate Hyland, Carmen To - BSc Product Design)
  • Highly Commended in Design: Phonics (Tadhg Morrisroe, Calum McCarthy, Sam Grogan, Salomé Riva - BSc Product Design)
  • Highly Commended in Design: Loopspace (David Sinclair-McCabe, Christopher Markham, Sean Loughlin, Orla Whooley-  BSc Product Design)
  • Highly Commended in Technology: Mirr (Jack O'Regan Kenny, BEng Mechatronic Engineering)
  • Highly Commended in Culinary Arts: Fresh Chef (Steven Duffy, Erin O'Dwyer- BSc Culinary Entrepreneurship)
  • Highly Commended in Business: Plantly (Clare Mustapha, Helena Perryman, Laoise-Edel Ni Bhroin, Keely O Connor - BSc eCommerce in Retailing)
  • Highly Commended in Engineering: Med RPC Sally Al Mashadani, Saadaq Mohamed, Seán Leydon, Hanzel Lague, James Dixon- BEng Manufacturing & Design Engineering)

About the Bolton Trust / TU Dublin Student Enterprise competition

The Bolton Trust / TU Dublin Student Enterprise competition has run on an annual basis since 1993. It provides TU Dublin students, both undergraduate and postgraduate, with the opportunity to win a range of cash prizes in the biggest University Enterprise competition in the country. The main objective of the competition is to foster a spirit of entrepreneurship and to encourage and support a rigorous business planning approach to entrepreneurial activities. The competition is open to individuals or teams.  Students can come from any discipline, any college, and multi-disciplinary cross-college teams are particularly welcome.

The competition is sponsored and supported by the Bolton Trust, TU Dublin Hothouse and Enterprise Ireland.