Published on: Sunday, 09 March 2014

Entrepreneurship, cyber crime and cyber war will be amongst the hot topics under discussion at a series of events at CIT’s Innovation Week which will take place from Monday, 10th March to Friday, 14th March on its Bishopstown Campus.

For full listing of events, please click here

This year marks twelve years of the highly successful CIT Prize for Innovation Competition sponsored by the Cork County and City Enterprise Boards. The competition features an exhibition of innovation and enterprise at third level and last year’s winners were Multimedia students, Paul Shannon, Mark Fitzsimons and Ronan DeLacy of “Mapr”, a softwear innovation with games developed which will enable stroke patients to perform exercises prescribed by their physiotherapists. The title of “CIT Entrepreneur of the Year 2014” will be announced at an Awards Ceremony on Friday with Guest Speaker, Pat Falvey.

Monday, 12th March

Will Sliney, a CIT Multi Media Graduate, Joe Darrer, also a Multi Media Graduate, Aoife Rigney, a CIT BIS Graduate, and Paul McCarthy also BIS, talk about their careers and share their experiences with the audience.
 
Will has achieved remarkable success as a bestselling artist and author. He has illustrated for Marvel Comics and his graphic novel, “Celtic Warrior”, was the first ever graphic novel to feature on the Irish Times Best Seller list. Joe is a partner and Operations Director at Radii.ie, a company which delivers software development and design solutions for companies all over the world. Aoife is a digital marketing and social media strategist and was shortlisted for the Blog Awards Ireland 2013 for Best Blog for an SME. Paul, who has just graduated, is in the early stages of developing his business, Breath Easy - a slurry gas alarm system. The event will be moderated by Diarmuid Sheehan, a graduate in the MA in Journalism and New Media course and publisher of the golf magazine, Irish Clubhouse.

Tuesday, 11th March at 2pm

Seminar on “The Current State of Cybercrime and Cyberwar” with speakers Robert McArdle of Trend Micro, Darius Whelan, Lecturer in Law at UCC and Ralph Riegel, Regional Correspondent with Independent News and Media. It will touch on the History of Cypercrime and Cyberwar, where we are today and how things will continue to evolve over the next two years.

Wednesday 12th March:

• Competitions:
  Third chance to win €100 in “Find the Robot Competition” Text 086-8932551 to register for clues
  Best Selfie” competition with ACE our Innovation Robot will run throughout the week (winner announced Friday in the Nexus!) post entries to www.facebook.com/ideahub
• Workshop on Entrepreneurship Education – Facilitating Entrepreneurial Capability in Higher Education
  Free Seminar - organised by the HINCKs Centre for Entrepreneurship Excellence & Accelerating Campus Entrepreneurship Initiative
  Location: Nimbus Centre
  Time: 9.30am to 3.30pm
  Download pdf
• Rubicon Tours
  Opportunity to view facilities, meet the staff, some entrepreneurs and the environment of the Centre – organised by Rubicon Centre
  Location: Rubicon Centre
  Time: 11am to 3.00pm
  Booking essential: ciara.lavelle@cit.ie  
• Nimbus Tours
  Opportunity to view facilities, meet the staff, some researchers and the environment of the Centre – organised by Nimbus Centre
  Location: Nimbus Centre
  Time: 11am to 3.00pm
  Booking essential: ray.ocinneide@cit.ie  
• Personal Skills Development through CIT Joint Mentorship Programme
  Open Workshop on CITs mentorship programme – organised jointly by Alumni Office & Careers Office
  Location: Meeting Room 3, Student Centre
  Time: 1pm to 1.45 pm
• School for Creative Start-Ups
  Free talk  - organised by Faculty of Business & Humanities  
  Location: Rory Gallagher Theatre
  Time: 3pm to 4pm
  Speaker: Medeia Cohan, Creative Director of School for Creative Startups

Thursday 13th March:

• Competitions
  Fourth chance to win €100 in “Find the Robot Competition”
  Text 086-8932551 to register for clues
  
  “Best Selfie” competition with ACE” our Innovation Robot will run throughout the week (winner announced Friday in the Nexus!)
  Post entries to www.facebook.com/ideahub
• CIT Prize for Innovation Interviews
  Shortlisted entrants to the CIT Prize For Innovation will pitch their business ideas and allow the judging panel to decide the winners of the title of “CIT Entrepreneur of the Year” and other categories
  Location: Rubicon Centre
  Time: 9am to 6pm  
• ACE (Accelerated Campus Entrepreneurship) Engaged Student Workshop  
  Students and Interns from various institutes around Ireland will converge in CIT to discuss activities and events under the Accelerated Campus Entrepreneurship (ACE) Initiative
  Location: Business Boardroom
  Time: 12 noon to 6pm  
  Closed Event
• School for Creative Start-Ups
  Free talk  - organised by Faculty of Business & Humanities  
  Location: CIT Cork School of Music  
  Time: 12 noon to 2pm
  Speaker: Medeia Cohan, Creative Director of School for Creative Startups

Friday 14th March:

• 9.30 - 2.00
  Cork County and City  Enterprise Boards CIT Prize for Innovation
  Nexus Hall, The Student Centre
  Bishopstown Campus.
  Open Event and no booking required
• 11.00am - 2.00pm
  The Apprentic Showcase and Awards
  Nexus Hall, The Student Centre
  Bishopstown Campus.
  Open Event and no booking required

• 10.30- 12.30pm
  Bright Ideas Competition
  Nexus Hall, The Student Centre
  Bishopstown Campus.
  Open Event and no booking required
• Rocket Workshops every half hour from 3:30 – 5:30pm.
  Build and launch your own Rocket into the Solar System
  CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory
  Blackrock
• 4pm - 6pm
  Coder Dojo Competition
  Nexus Hall, The Student Centre
  Bishopstown Campus.
  Open to CIT Coder Dojo Participants

Carole O’Leary, Industry Liaison Manager at CIT says, “The rationale behind the week is to promote Innovation and Entrepreneurship amongst staff and students and the wider business community. With the variety of events, speakers, and competitions, there is something for everyone. CIT is at the forefront of entrepreneurship education and training, and the on-campus incubator, The Rubicon Centre, is a dedicated facility for start ups and emerging companies and is home to 57 knowledge based businesses.”
 
Myles Murray, winner of the CIT Prize for Innovation in 2011, is founder and MD of PMD Solutions. They are preparing to enter a global emerging market valued at €2bn in 2014. His company employs 7 people and aims to increase this to 10 by year-end. PMD Solutions has received High Potential Start Up (HPSU) Funding and is the first company in the country to receive such funding this year.
 
As part of Innovation Week, the School of Business at CIT will host an ‘APP-rentice’ competition and no programming or technical experience is required to enter; just good APP ideas that will be showcased on Friday, March 14th.
 
The week will finish up with a rocket launch by future entrepreneurs from primary schools around the city and county, at CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory, again with more prizes on offer for the furthest rockets launched.