Six teams consisting 16 team members covering sectors from the environment and ICT to sport and leisure are to battle it out for the University College Dublin (UCD) ‘Sussed’ €10,000 Entrepreneurship Prize.
The objective of the competition, organised by NovaUCD, is to transform business ideas emerging from students and early stage researchers at UCD into business plans and commercial enterprises.
The winners of the SUSSED! Competition will share a €10,000 prize fund, receive six months free incubation space in NovaUCD and obtain professional support in forming their new ventures.
The overall winner will also represent UCD in the Europe-wide UNICA Entrepreneurship Competition for Students and Young Researchers, which takes place later this year.
The short-listed teams will now go forward to the ‘Dragons’ Den’ phase of the competition, to be held later this month, when each team will make a formal pitch to the Judging Panel, who will select the top three prize-winners.
The members of the SUSSED! Judging Panel are: Eamonn Fallon, managing director and co-founder, Daft.ie; Dan Maher, founder, Nua Venture; Nicola Mitchell, managing director and founder, Life Scientific; Dr Brian Kelly, CEO and co-founder, Celtic Catalysts; and Dr Pat Frain, director, NovaUCD.
By John Kennedy
