81 per cent of secondary school students state technology has enhanced education and 68 per cent want teachers to use moretechnology in the classroom

- BT and Irish gymnast Kieran Behan call for entries for the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2017

A talented team of five teenagers from Offaly, Dublin, Kilkenny and Limerick today claimed the winning spot at the 2016 BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp with their project entitled ‘Courses for horses; feeding performance horses as nature intended’. The group presented to a judging panel of accomplished business professionals as they looked to demonstrate how their idea could improve the digestive health and efficiency of performance horses.

Daniel Carroll aged 16 from Colaiste Choilm in Offay, Khadija Gull aged 17 from Loreto Secondary School Balbriggan in Dublin, Maeve Shaw aged 16 from Coláiste Pobal Osraí in Kilkenny, David Hamilton aged 15 from Ardscoil Ris in Limerick and Alanna Slater aged 16 from Desmond College in Limerick won ‘best overall team’ at the 7th annual BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp. The team impressed the judges with their well-planned and thought out business pitch for ‘Courses for horses’ which they presented this afternoon at NovaUCD.

The team was selected for its significant progress over the four-day workshop, which is designed to equip students with practical skills and knowledge to transform a creative idea into a viable business proposition. The students, selected because they displayed particular business ambition, are shown how to set up a company, write a business plan, create a marketing campaign, draft a budget and present their ideas competently to senior academics and business people.

Heather Murphy aged 16 from Sutton Park School in Dublin was recognised as the best individual student. She showed the judges an in-depth understanding of the process of bringing an idea she had on paper all the way through to project commercialisation.

Congratulating all the participants at the BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp award ceremony this afternoon, Shay Walsh, Managing Director, BT Ireland, said; “This week we saw some of the country’s brightest young minds come together at the BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp. The programme aims to help students’ bridge the gap between education and business and bring their inventions to market and we have certainly seen this come to life over the past few days. I would like to congratulate everyone who took part and hopefully they leave here today with a greater understanding of how their creative ideas can live in the business world.”

Throughout the week each group was mentored by a senior BT professional and got inspiration from key speakers which included former BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition winner Aisling Judge and Rhona Togher, CEO of Restored Hearing.