There’s €50,000 on offer in this year’s Irish Business Design Challenge and the public will be asked to vote for their favourite entries.

The design challenge launched last year, with entries spanning sectors from bio-science to retail to design to tourism. As an example, the winner of the micro-business category, Home By Notions, responded to the Covid pandemic by developing a flat-pack desk that can be assembled in seconds, while runner-up Nufields condensed their commercial-scale growing techniques into a compact window-sill sized kit for consumers.

This year the contest has three categories, for micro-businesses with one to ten employees, small (11 to 50 employees) and medium sized, from 51 to 250 staff. The winner in each category receives €15,000 with €2,000 going to each runner-up.

Design and Craft Council chief executive Rosemary Steen said: “Last year’s competition highlighted the resilience, creativity, and awareness of SMEs. Design in its essence is about creativity in all its forms, from problem-solving to joy-inducing.

By bringing together the three leading agencies in this space Design and Crafts Council Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, and the Local Enterprise Offices,  we hope to get the standout examples of Irish design practice. I would strongly encourage any business who has applied design to deliver new breakthrough innovations to enter this year.”

In Association with

Applications are now open and will be accepted over the coming weeks, after which the public will be invited to vote for their favourite entries. The businesses that receive the most public votes will be shortlisted and a panel of judges will evaluate and select the overall winners.

For further information on the Irish Business Design Challenge or to enter the competition, see here.

Photo: Rosemary Steen with Jamie Maguire, founder of Home by Notions