What event, involving students from all over the island, has taken place each year for the last 50 years? No doubt you know the answer to this question. It is the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE). This busy, glamorous and exciting event involves 550 student projects and a range of other exhibitions spread across five halls in the famous Royal Dublin Society (RDS).
Many commentators feel that it is important for us to produce more scientists, engineers, mathematicians, technologists and business entrepreneurs. The world is changing and we need to keep up. Technology drives many of these changes. Technology is applied science, and so scientific knowledge, and our ability to apply that knowledge, is seen as critical to the future of the economy and to society in general. The BTYSTE plays a major part in achieving this objective.
This is the BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp in UCD Innovation. These students are working with their mentors from BT to develop their projects as commercial businesses. Many of the projects that enter the BTYSTE have the potential to become businesses. To do this the students need to know more about innovation, business development and entrepreneurship. Each team is preparing to present their business idea to a panel of expert judges at the end of the week. Each year six projects out of the eighteen that qualify are shortlisted for the teams to work on over 3 days and then pitch to the judges on the 4th day.
The winners of the 2014 BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp were: Alex Gallagher Lynch, aged 18 from St Nathys College, Roscommon, Anna McEvoy aged 17 from Our Ladys College Drogheda, Cut Aina Hannisa, aged 16 from Regina Mundi College, Cork, Eamonn Sweeney aged 17 from Jesus & Mary Secondary School, Sligo and Emma Kirwan aged 16 from Tullamore College, Offaly won ‘best overall team’ for their work on the project ‘Addressing the issue of unnoticed road signs’; the project set out to design and engineer a cost effective solution to the issue of unnoticed road signs.