At a glance

• Value: €4,000
• You must be a current UCC Student to be eligible for this scholarship
• Questions about this scholarship can be directed to a.wallace@ucc.ie

Student Inc., is an accelerator programme for student entrepreneurs that involves collaboration with three third level institutions. The programme runs during the months of June, July & August where a total of 30 student entrepreneurs work full-time on their business ideas in three on-campus incubation facilities in University College Cork, Cork Institute of Technology and the Institute of Technology Tralee.

The Student Inc. Programme takes student entrepreneurship from the class-room and transfers it to an applied setting where the promoters can dedicate themselves full-time to the development of their respective business propositions. The Student Inc. Programme is a significant support for UCC student entrepreneurs under the stewardship of Professor Joe Bogue in the Cork University Business School. This funding mechanism provides existing students the opportunity to work on their business idea throughout the summer to bring them to fruition and is a collaborative project with CIT and IT Tralee. We look forward to supporting a further 30 students in 2021 to transform their innovative business ideas into early-stage ventures.”

Each student entrepreneur receives €4,000 in seed funding for their business, training and mentoring over the three summer months. The programme will consist of a series of structured workshops, taught content, interactive workshops as well as regular pitching sessions.

The students come from a variety of disciplines areas and the 2020 cohort includes:

• Maths
• World Languages
• Psychology
• Food Marketing
• Computer Science
• Finance
• BIS
• Medicine

 The Student Inc. Programme welcomes participants from first year to Masters level and across all disciplines with business ideas that have ranged from a new type of sheep marking device to a new digital music playlist generator, a data mining tool for the trading sector, a sailing mast innovation and an insect protein bar.

The Student Inc. Programme is an initiative that was developed in 2011 by the CIT Innovation and Enterprise Office and has grown successfully over the past 8 years. This is the final year (2021) of the programme which has been funded by the Higher Education Authority, under their Innovation and Transformation Fund.

UCC, CIT and IT Tralee are individually recognised for the successful integration of entrepreneurship and enterprise into student education. The Student Inc. Programme ensures that all third level students across the Cork and Kerry region have an excellent opportunity to start a business during their time in college. These students will be rewarded with life skills that are best attained through experiential learning rather than classroom settings, and the development of such transferable skills will be beneficial to them whether they travel down the entrepreneur or employee route after they graduate.

Student Inc. is funded by the Higher Education Authority, under their Innovation and Transformation Fund.

IF YOU HAVE A BUSINESS IDEA AND WOULD LIKE TO BE PART OF THE 2021 STUDENT INC. PROGRAMME, MAKE CONTACT WITH US!

For more information visit:  https://www.studentinc.ie/