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Mark O'Sullivan Wins National Student Entrepreneur Award
Mark O'Sullivan, of Neurobell was named Enterprise Ireland's 2020 Student Entrepreneur of the Year.
The annual Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneur Awards is in it's 39th year, and is co-sponsored by Cruickshank, Grant Thornton and the Local Enterprise Offices. The winners share a €35,000 cash prize fund and €30,000 in mentoring support from Enterprise Ireland.
A medical device for the early detection and monitoring of brain injuries in newborns has scooped the top prize at Enterprise Ireland’s Student Entrepreneur Awards 2020. Neurobell, developed by University College Cork (UCC) PhD student and IGNITE participant, Mark O’Sullivan, aims to help clinicians diagnose abnormal brain activity faster and with greater accuracy.
Mark was one of ten finalists who participated in the virtual final of the third level Student Entrepreneur Awards on the 12th June and received the €10,000 cash prize fund, as well as the opportunity to avail of specialist advice and assistance from Enterprise Ireland to help turn his innovative enterprise idea into a business reality.
The Local Enterprise Office ICT award went to Limerick brothers, UCC student, Nick Cotter and LIT student, Jack Cotter, for their Cotter Agritech innovation. Their product the Cotter Crate is a patent-pending, lamb handling system that makes dosing and weighing lambs easier, faster, and prevents back injury.
The Cruickshank High Achieving Merit Award went to Siobhán Ryan, a student from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), for her project PressiDect. Siobhán received a prize of €5,000 for her peri-operative pressure detection system designed for use on a theatre table.
Simon Dring from Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) took home the Grant Thornton High Achieving Merit Award for his device which aims to improve concussion awareness and player safety at all levels. His product the TraumAlert which allows for rapid detection of potential concussions, received €5,000 in cash prize funding.
Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD said: “For the past four decades, student entrepreneurs in third level institutions across the country have been identifying challenges and the solutions to overcome them. Competitions like the Student Entrepreneur Awards act as an important springboard for tomorrow’s business leaders and provide a platform for young people to showcase their highly innovative business ideas.
The high calibre of applications in the virtual final highlights the vibrant entrepreneurial spirit within Ireland’s universities and colleges across the country. I would like to congratulate the overall award winner Mark O’Sullivan of Neurobell and I look forward to seeing the progression of his medical device technology.”