Twelve finalists in The Ireland Funds Business Plan Competition will compete for a share of €27,000 in cash prizes in June, after the shortlist was announced this week.

The competition will provide cash to kick-start four of the ventures, which are all new tech ideas emerging from research centre and universities around Ireland.

Organisers of the competition are The Ireland Funds, NDRC and St Patrick’s Mental Health Services.

The finalists in this year’s competition are:

Align (Queen’s University Belfast)
Carbon Capture (Trinity College Dublin)
Injurysense (Trinity College Dublin)
MyClinic365 (Trinity College Dublin)
Neurofit (Trinity College Dublin)
OpinionX (Dublin City University)
Project Grace (National University of Ireland, Galway)
SafetyFreelancer (Dublin Business School)
Sensibin (Trinity College Dublin)
Signal Optimiser (Queen’s University Belfast)
Keep Appy (Trinity College Dublin)
Preserve (National University of Ireland, Maynooth)

In Association with

Lily Devices, led by NUI Galway student Aaron Hannon, won the top prize of €15,000 in 2019 for its product, which aims to prevent hair loss during chemotherapy.

The shortlisted teams will now participate in a four-week programme of pre-acceleration workshops, as well as receiving mentoring and feedback throughout the process.

There will be a final pitching event in June and three prizes will be awarded. The winner will have the opportunity to pitch for a place on one of NDRC’s investment programmes, as well as securing a €15,000 cash prize. Second place will receive a €7,000 cash prize and third place will receive €2,000.

In 2019, The Ireland Funds partnered with St Patrick’s Mental Health Services (SPMHS) to award a prize to kick-start a mental health-focused business plan. The partnership continues this year with a €3,000 prize fund for a technology idea that focuses on mental health. The prize will be awarded in addition to the €24,000 prize money for first, second and third runner up.

Caitriona Fottrell, Ireland director of The Ireland Funds, said that the competition has a long history of encouraging ambition and creativity among Ireland’s young entrepreneurs. “In this time of great change we are fortunate to be able to adapt and continue to deliver a fantastic programme in 2020 remotely,” she added.

Orla Gogarty, director of digital health at SPMHS, said that a quiet revolution was being witnessed in terms of how innovative technology can help people stay connected with work, health services and social support networks, when they cannot be together in person.

“This competition is particularly important at this challenging time when entrepreneurs and startups need our support perhaps more than ever,” she continued.

Photo: Lily Devices founder Aaron Hannon (left) with Bill McKiernan, creator of the BPC (Image: Aengus McMahon)