AxisBIC Entrepreneurship Awards Highlight Student Innovation at UCC

29 Apr 2026

Student innovation was celebrated on 15 April, as AxisBIC presented its annual Entrepreneurship Award at the School of Computer Science and Information Technology, University College Cork.

Now in its sixth year, the award recognises undergraduate students within the School, highlighting the entrepreneurial potential of undergraduate final year projects. 

The School greatly values its ongoing partnership with AxisBIC in promoting student innovation and entrepreneurship among students. 

This year’s competition attracted a high standard of entries. Following an initial review of final year projects, shortlisted students took part in a panel interview process, pitching their ideas and responding to questions from AxisBIC judges. The awards recognise not only technical excellence but also the commercial potential and real-world impact of student-led innovations. 

• The top prize was awarded to Ishaan Arakkal Anwar (Carrigaline, Co. Cork), a final year BSc Data Science and Analytics student, for his project, Barrikade.  
• Second place went to Jack Weitzman (Kinsale, Co. Cork) with GroceARY.  
• Third place was awarded to Lily McDonnel (Kilkenny), Andrea Marshall (Ballyphehane, Cork City), Saoirse O'Donovan (Tralee, Co. Kerry), Dylan O'Toole (Sunday’s Well, Cork City) for their collaborative project OnBotting. 

The winning project, Barrikade, explores the development of a security layer for autonomous AI agents, addressing a new class of security risks as these systems become increasingly capable of carrying out real-world tasks independently. Unlike traditional AI tools, such agents can execute actions such as sending emails, accessing data, and interacting with enterprise systems. 

The project focuses on the lack of a standard mechanism to verify whether these actions are safe, authorised, or aligned with user intent before execution. Barrikade aims to support the safe and responsible deployment of AI technologies. 

Speaking about the project, Ishaan Arakkal Anwar said that Barrikade began as a final year project, but quickly revealed a broader challenge in how organisations manage autonomous AI systems. He added that the AxisBIC Entrepreneurship Award helped spark the idea of developing the project further from a research concept into a potential venture.

“AI agents are already being deployed in companies, capable of sending emails, deleting files and making decisions autonomously,” he said. “In many cases, there is limited visibility or control over what those systems are doing. Barrikade is an attempt to address that.” He added that winning the AxisBIC award, alongside support from IGNITE, has given him the confidence to further develop the project, and he is keen to continue building and engaging with others in the field. 

Prof Dirk Pesch, Head of School said: “The School of Computer Science and Information Technology is grateful to AxisBIC for sponsoring the Entrepreneurship Award again this year. Computer Science is at the core of a wide range of innovations that run our modern world. Advanced connectivity and AI are driving innovation but also leading to cybersecurity challenges. The three projects that received an award focus on these topics, cybersecurity, augmented reality and AI assisted chatbots. By sponsoring the entrepreneurship award, AxisBIC supports UCC’s drive to encourage entrepreneurial thinking in our students and motivate them to use their learning to help innovate and make our world more equitable and sustainable.” 

Speaking at the awards Dan Murphy Senior Consultant commented, “The quality and ambition of this year’s projects at University College Cork once again highlight the exceptional talent emerging from the next generation of innovators. At AxisBIC, we are proud to support initiatives that encourage students to think beyond the technical aspects of their work and consider real-world application and commercial potential. Projects like Barrikade demonstrated not only technical excellence, but also went to the next step and interacted with their target customers to actively seek their validation and input into the solution. The winning projects understood that customer led technological solutions have the best potential to succeed. We look forward to seeing how these ideas evolve into impactful ventures in the years ahead.”