Empowering Entrepreneurs
Brave & Bold
IDEATE Ireland provides a unique opportunity for students to put entrepreneurship principles into practice. So whether you go on to win a cash prize, advance your new venture idea, or take advantage of the learning and apply it in your career, we promise that the competition will be a dynamic, challenging and enriching experience.
Take The Leap…
…like the IDEATE Ireland alumni 2022. Watch the video.
Competition
CASH PRIZES
€15K
€7K
Second Runner-Up
€5K
Our purpose is simple, to accelerate you through the early-stage of venture development with a set of repeatable tools and skills to give your start-up the best possible kick-start.
Eligibility
- The Competition is open to undergraduates, post-graduates, recent graduates (two years or less), and researchers from third-level institutes, universities and research centres on the island of Ireland.
- Teams should be resident on the island of Ireland at the time of application.
- Teams should be at the pre-investment stage, i.e., have not taken equity investment at the date of application.
- Specifically, we are looking for three things:
- An individual or a team; with
- An innovative product, service or technology; and
- Global scalability to achieve international sales and create employment.
Confidentiality
The only individuals who will have access to your application are Ideate Ireland assigned evaluators who have agreed to maintain confidentiality on all submissions. IP resides with the promoter and participating team. Note that a short description of your idea may, with your permission, be used in public documentation relating to the Competition. As members of the Ideate Ireland community, students agree to abide by our shared values of honesty, integrity, respect for others and accountability for personal behaviour.
Selection Criteria
All applications are reviewed by multiple experts who then recommend up to ten teams to proceed to the next stage of the Competition.
Evaluation criteria are as follows:
- Has the problem or opportunity been clearly defined?
- Is there an understanding of the target customer?
- Is there a large, global market?
- Can competitive advantage be created?
- What is the business model?
- What are the complementary skills and experience of the team?
- What progress has been made to date?
- Can the team make meaningful progress in 3 months?
Shortlisted teams will be announced on Thursday, 30 March 2023.
If an idea is not selected to proceed, we are happy to schedule a call to offer feedback and direction to other start-up supports.
Benefits
All finalists receive:
- Detailed feedback from VC’s, entrepreneurs and industry experts.
- Access to Ideate Ireland Alumni Network.
- Complimentary hot desk space at The Guinness Enterprise Centre in Dublin and The Ormeau Baths in Belfast.
- Complimentary access to Happy Scribe.
- Complimentary access to OnePageCRM.
- Ideate Ireland badge to display on a website.
2023 Timeline
2022 Finalists
Past Finalists
2017 - 2022
- Advanced Analytics Labs
- Amara Therapeutics
- Better Examinations (acquired)
- Bionics
- Carbon Harvesters
- Change Donations
- Connect the Dots
- Cotter Agritech
- Darwin + Goliath
- Equine MediRecord
- Giyst
- Happy Scribe
- Indiecom
- jumpAgrade
- Kids Speech Labs
- Luminate Medical
- Machine Eye
- MetHEALTH
- MyClinic365
- Neurobell
- NeutroPredict
- OpinionX
- Peckish
- pHetalSafe
- Safecility
- SeamlessCARE
- Sensi
- Shirt in a Box
- Signal Optimiser
- SMARTProbe
- Sula Health
- Vocalynx
- Whispr.AI/Lua (acquired by Beekeeper)
- Zendra Health
Become Ireland’s Next BIG Thing!
Application Process
- Applications are open from Tuesday, 14 February and close on Tuesday, 21 March 2023 at 23.59 GMT.
- Applications are considered on a competitive basis.
- All IP resides with the promoter and team.
- Teams should be available to participate in all workshop sessions.
Application Instructions
- Applications must be submitted using the online link by the closing date and time.
- Please be as succinct as you can and respect the suggested wordcount.
Tips & Advice
- We accept everything from early-stage to more developed concepts so we strongly suggest that you submit an application.
- You do not have to have set up a company to make an application.
- You can have received grant assistance but should not have taken any equity investment in the idea.
Workshops Schedule
There are 10 online workshops:
| DATE | ACTIVITY | DELIVERY |
| 11-Apr-23 | Workshop 1: Orientation | In Person (The Guinness Enterprise Centre) |
| 18-Apr-23 | Workshop 2: Problem Framing | Online |
| 25-Apr-23 | Workshop 3: Customer Discovery | Online |
| 2-May-23 | Workshop 4: Value Proposition | Online |
| 9-May-23 | Workshop 5: Market Sizing | Online |
| 16-May-23 | Workshop 6: Go-To-Market | Online |
| 23-May-23 | Workshop 7: Presentation Skills | Online |
| 30-May-23 | Workshop 8: Business Road-mapping | Online |
| 6-Jun-23 | Workshop 9: Mentor Sessions | Online |
| 13-Jun-23 | Workshop 10: Practice Pitch | Online |
| 20-Jun-23 | IDEATE Ireland Showcase & Reception | In Person (The Guinness Enterprise Centre) |
Office Hours
If you have a query in advance of your submission, please book a 15-minute Office Hours chat.
Entrepreneur Feedback
When asked what our greatest learning was, we answered EVERYTHING.
It challenged every assumption we had, and forced us to put the customer at the centre of what we did and why we did it.
If you want to stress test your business idea and make an honest go/no-go decision this is the right forum for you.
A stand out for me was the quality of the information provided.
The personal one-on-one contact is a real stand out strength to what made this programme so valuable.
The stage tasks were a tough test for the validity of our business idea.
Having such brilliant and supportive mentoring has helped us stay true to our vision.
Hearing from people who have had success and shared their experiences is invaluable.
We added a group of quality start-ups and entrepreneurs to our network.
Fascinating guest talks and general advice in terms of road mapping.
You will get further in 8 weeks than you could in 8 months on your own.
Empowering Entrepreneurs
We believe that “a job is the best social philanthropy anyone can provide, and that every job starts with an entrepreneur”. Ideate Ireland is our way of supporting new ideas emerging from third-level institutions on the island of Ireland.
Founding Team
William (Bill) S. McKiernan, whose grandfather hailed from Leitrim, is currently the President of WSM Capital LLC, a private equity fund focused on payment related businesses.
Cian O’Flaherty is an entrepreneur, who began his current start-up Safecility as a member of the 2018 BPC cohort. A native of Kerry, Cian has grown Safecility in the Smart Building sector since 2019.
Danny Moore, based in Belfast, is President and Chief Executive Officer of Options Technology, the number one provider of IT infrastructure to global Capital Markets firms, and is responsible for leading the firm's day-to-day global operations.
David Moffitt, Dublin, is currently CEO of Kayfoam Woolfson. David began his career as a General Management Trainee with Smurfit Kappa and subsequently became the Irish Director of R.R. Donnelley before establishing Tech Group Europe.
Helen Fullen, hailing from County Down, is an internationally recognised expert in early-stage entrepreneurial venture development and the architect of a robust pre-accelerator programme model.
Steering Group
Aviva Cohen
SeamlessCare
André Bastié
Laura Malone
MyClinic365
Brendan Digney
Shona D'Arcy
Kids Speech Labs
Brendan Staunton
Tara Gibney
Daniel Kyne
Opinion X
Rebecca Dillon
Merim Džaferagić
Nearby
Joanne O'Dwyer
Alejandro Vergara
Carbon Harvesters
Eimear O’Hara
Nathan Misischi
Lewis Loane
Funders
Ideate Ireland is generously underwritten through philanthropic donations and corporate sponsorship.
In-Kind Sponsors
We are committed to enhance cooperation, connection and mutual understanding on the island of Ireland and to engage with all communities and traditions to build consensus around a shared passion for entrepreneurship and new venture development.
Academic Partners
View
Culture
Our Vision
Our Mission
Our Values
We are guided by key values in our mission to support entrepreneurs and innovation.
Optimism
We are driven by the power of ideas to change the world.
Passion
We are as excited and ambitious about our entrepreneurs’ projects as they are.
Inclusivity
We know great ideas can come from anyone and anywhere, and we are open to all.
Integrity
We do the right thing, do our best, and tell it as it is.
Discipline
We use a rigorous entrepreneurship methodology designed for sustainable results.
Knowledge
We are always learning and refining our approach to share with future cohorts.
Growth
We support an entrepreneur-led journey of personal and professional growth.
Community
We cultivate long-term relationships and share our collective networks.
Generosity
We give back and pay it forward to make the journey easier for all.
Your Brand
The brand icon represents pathways, showing the different avenues that arise from engaging with Ideate Ireland to achieve your vision. This pinpoints an entrepreneur in a certain direction, with diverse options to success—helping you along on your journey.
Entrepreneurial Lessons Learned
We were delighted to be joined by Bill McKiernan from Silicone Valley for our IDEATE Ireland Open Evening 2022. He shared some fascinating learnings from his own experience of starting a business and growing a company.
A Minute With The Masters
A Minute With The Masters is 10 questions that we ask successful entrepreneurs. The questions are adapted from Tim Ferriss’s book ‘Tribe of Mentors’.
2022 Awardees
2022 Winners
Dr. Mark O’Sullivan and Dr. Alison O’Shea of Neurobell
2022 First Runner Up
Sarusha Pillay and Dr. Fergus McCarthy of pHetalSafe
2022 Joint Second Runner Up
Nick Cotter of Cotter Agritech
2022 Joint Second Runner Up
Dr. Fiona McGillicuddy and Dr. Rachel Byrne of MetHEALTH
2022 Showcase Gallery
Contact Us
Applicants
hello@ideateireland.ie
Sponsors
sponsor@ideateireland.ie
Press
pr@ideateireland.ie