Published on: Tuesday, 18 March 2014

On 14th March, 2014, a solar power milk pasteurisation system design won the €4,000 prize and the title of CIT Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2014 Cork County and City Enterprise Boards CIT Prize for Innovation Awards Ceremony which also featured a keynote address from Cork adventurer, Pat Falvey.

First Prize, and title of CIT Entrepreneur of the Year with a prize fund of €4,000, went to DairySolve, an agricultural innovation created by CIT students John Keane, Mechanical Engineering, Hayden Doyle, Marketing and Sean Dowling, Business. Dairy Solve hope to design a milk pasteurisation system using solar power. Their market focus is small-scale dairy farmers in developing countries.

The Most Innovative Award of €2,000 went to Quick Connections, a company that provides the answer when it comes to creating the safest working environment for machine operators. Created by Shane Heaphy, Mechanical Engineering, Garry Hooper, Mechanical Engineering, Daniel O’Shea, Mechanical Engineering, Ciaran Nyhan, Mechanical Engineering and Ruslanas Jasakas, Biomedical Engineering, their product addresses the on-going issue of operators being involved in life threatening accidents when changing front-end implements of loaders.

Best Business Plan and Presentation Award of €1,000 went to Rain Water Works for “Retain the Rain”, a self-contained, effective, and eco-friendly, rainwater collection system providing customers with safe clean drinking water for human consumption and everyday use. The team consisted of Colm Coleman, Mechanical Engineering, Eoghan Corry, Mechanical Engineering, Brian Donoghue, Giovani Telli, Mechanical Engineering, Aisling Coleman, Biomedical Engineering and Odeta Indriejaityte, Accounting.

The Part Time Award of €1,000 was awarded to Rebecca Robinson, Bachelor of Business for Alleraid, a potentially lifesaving lifestyle altering product that addresses the severe reactions associated with nut allergies.

The Social Entrepreneurship Award of €1,000 went to Silent Interactions, a company which has developed a multi-functional vibrating and flashing alert wristband with an audible sensor system. The product, aimed at people who have a hearing impairment, was developed by Paul Lane, Biomedical Engineering, Sunny Jay, Mechanical Engineering, Dean O’Doherty, Mechanical Engineering, Myles Lennon, Mechanical Engineering and Theresa Cosgrove, Marketing.

Cork County and City Enterprise Boards CIT Prize for Innovation is open to all departments within CIT and awards cash prizes to those whose inventions and business ideas are judged most creative, innovative, and most likely to succeed in the marketplace.

Image credit: Neil Danton

Adrienne Rodgers, Cork City & County Enterprise Boards; with (l to r) Valterri Vesterbacka, Mark Mullins, Hayden Doyle, Kevin Condon, Aoife Flynn, Sean Dowling and John Keane, DairySolve; who received the First Prize Award, and title of CIT Entrepreneur of the Year.

Adrienne Rodgers with Gary Hooper, Ciaran Nyhan, Shane Heaphy and Ruslanas Jasakas, Quick Connections; Most Innovative Award winners.

Adrienne Rodgers with Colm Coleman, Eoghan Corry, Odetta Indriejaityte, Giovani Telli, Aisling Coleman and Brian Donohoe,  Retain the Rain; Best Business Plan and Presentation Award.

Adrienne Rodgers with Rebecca Robinson, AllerAid; post-graduate & part-time business award winner.

Adrienne Rodgers with Myles Lennon, Theresa Cosgrove, Dean O'Doherty, Sunny Jay and Paul Lane, Silent Interactions; Social Entrepreneurship Award winners.

Adrienne Rodgers with Gary Hooper, Ciaran Nyhan, Shane Heaphy and Ruslanas Jasakas, Quick Connections; Most Innovative Award winners at the Prize for Innovation Awards at Cork Institute of Technology.