After a hugely impressive showcase of Maynooth University’s entrepreneurial spirit, Fergal Murray (4th year Product Design Student) was announced €5000 First Prize Winner of the 2019 Eden Ideas Competition for his innovative solution for sports concussion detection, ‘Tremor’. Competition was stiff with €2500 second prize going to Molly Hackett’s ‘Wills.ie’ (a service solution to allow solicitors to effectively manage wills) and €1500 third place to Damon Flynn, Jane Carroll and Damian Mulhern, with ‘Alter’ (an adaptive piece of furniture specifically designed for open plan offices).
With the record breaking number of 81 applications, the Judging Panel (comprised of Jacqui McNabb, Head of Enterprise at Local Enterprise Office, Kildare; Mark Ellis, Senior Associate with McCann Fitzgerald; Leon Diop, President of The MU student Union; Prof. David Prendergast, Acting head of the department of Design Innovation commented on the high calibre of entrants and the innovation shown in their ideas.
The Eden Ideas Competition carries a prize fund of €10,000 and is among the most established and richest student enterprise competitions in any Irish university. We are indebted to the joint sponsors; McCann Fitzgerald and Kildare Local Enterprise Office for supporting this competition and continuing to encourage our student’s entrepreneurial mind-set.