NUI Maynooth students win Irish finals of Microsoft Imagine Cup

26 Apr 2012

NUI Maynooth students Donal O'Sullivan, Marie Farrell and Cosmin Siclovan, winners of the 2012 Irish finals of the Microsoft imagine Cup for their docTek Systems cloud solution for the medical industry

NUI Maynooth students Cosmin Siclovan, Donal O’Sullivan and Marie Farrell have won the Irish finals of the 2012 Microsoft Imagine Cup global student technology competition.

The students won for their cloud-based app to provide a doctor-patient synchronisation system. It’s called docTek Systems.

Their app aims to offer a personalised symptomatic journal that offers reminders to patients, plus client management features for medical professionals.

The three NUI Maynooth students triumphed over 600 other students to win in the finals. They will be now be heading to compete at the global Microsoft Imagine Cup finals this summer in Sydney, Australia.

Right now, there are some start-ups in Ireland that are pioneering similar med-tech technologies. For instance, NotesFirst (formerly known as RYPL) has designed a tablet and application for doctors and medical professionals to document patient information while they are on the move, such as while they are doing hospital rounds.

The start-up, which relocated to Ireland from California, is one of 10 start-ups engaged in Startupbootcamp, the three-month accelerator for new ventures, based in Dublin City.

Then, there’s Cara Health (formerly known as Patient Journey Record), which has developed a cloud-based hospital re-admissions platform for the care management marketplace.

The start-up has made it to the final three start-ups in a US healthcare competition, gleaning €50,000 for its efforts. Cara Health will be pitching in New York on 10 May for a Demo Day as part of the finals.

The Microsoft Imagine Cup finals were hosted this week to showcase some of the cloud-based innovations students in Ireland are developing.

Minister of State for Training and Skills Ciarán Cannon was at yesterday’s finals. He said it was very encouraging to see so many students in Ireland interested in technology and applying their knowledge in the area.

A few weeks ago, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton, TD, announced details of a €1.2m initial research programme in the Cloud Computing Technology Research Centre.

Paul Rellis, managing director, Microsoft Ireland, congratulated the students from NUI Maynooth on their winning solution.

“It’s a great concept with real potential and we’re looking forward to working with them in the build up to the finals this summer in Australia,” he said.

Rellis spoke about last year’s winners, who hail from Sligo, and won the competition for their solution to encourage safer driving.

The students went on to win the global finals, and Rellis said they are now working towards commercialising their concept.

Carmel Doyle was a long-time reporter with Silicon Republic

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