Launchbox 2016’s Student Entrepreneurs Aim to Take Over Business World
Posted on: 20 June 2016
How can we feed 9.8 billion people by 2050? And how can we assist refugees affected by the devastating Syrian crisis right now?
These are just two of the societal problems that budding student entrepreneurs are seeking to solve as they develop start-up businesses under expert guidance during the next three months via Trinity College Dublin’s extremely successful accelerator programme Launchbox (see launchbox.ie).
This summer, a total of 14 teams will benefit from office space, funding, mentorship, access to alumni, partner and investor networks, and the ideal collaborative environment to launch new start-up ventures that Launchbox extends to them. These teams will work diligently to deliver investor-ready ventures by the end of the summer.
The teams introduced themselves at a special launch event and delivered brief pitches at a ‘Meet the Teams’ Kick-Off event in the GMB in Trinity College Dublin.
“Trinity College Dublin is committed to empowering our students to become leaders in business, technology, and social enterprise. We are the number 1 university in Europe for producing entrepreneurs, and we are determined to continue this work. Through projects like LaunchBox we offer our students the chance to innovate and excel in a supportive startup environment,” says LaunchBox Programme Manager, Alison Treacy.
“Trinity students consistently show they have the insight, skills, and drive to start their own companies. As a university, we provide them with the supports required to do this. We facilitate, we advise, we provide funding and mentors – but they lead it all, and that’s the fantastic thing about programmes like LaunchBox,” added Treacy.
The Smallfarms team seeks to market crickets as a highly nutritious protein source with a focus on reducing the environmentally unworkable burden of livestock production to feed our growing global population, while the Criserv team is a social enterprise that will link refugees and aid recipients with NGOs assisting Syrian refugees as they transit through Europe. Nu, meanwhile, is developing an innovative ethical fashion community aiming to reinvent the way we shop so that our retail practices become more sustainable.
Other business ventures in this year’s LaunchBox programme include Fallsafe, which provides elderly people with a means to swiftly and reliably call for help after suffering falls, Haysaver, a smart-agriculture early-warning system to prevent spontaneous haybale combustion, and Surfbuoy, an innovative water safety device that is only buoyant when activated.
This is the fourth year of the highly successful programme led and funded by Trinity, with a new programme manager on board. Bank of Ireland has also made a sponsorship contribution for the first time this year.
Commenting on its sponsorship of Launchbox, Head of Innovation at Bank of Ireland, David Tighe said: “Bank of Ireland and Trinity College have a long legacy of working together and we are delighted to support the 2016 Launchbox programme. Bank of Ireland supports entrepreneurs extensively across Ireland through a number of initiatives and our sponsorship of Launchbox will help the next generation of talented professionals to start and succeed in their businesses.”
Trinity students and graduates are offered year-round support for their entrepreneurial ideas and business ventures through LaunchBox, and Blackstone LaunchPad at Trinity.
Past Launchbox successes include social enterprise Foodcloud, which helps businesses redistribute surplus food to those who need it, Touchtech, a payment processing venture, and Artomatix, which develops tools for automating digital media creation.
Meet the 2016 Teams
COSTELLOKEEGAN DESIGNS: Taking advantage of this, the ‘Golden Age of Boardgames’, CostelloKeeganDesign’s first project, Volatile, is a game which meshes collaborative and competitive gameplay in an intricate and engaging format that leads to an enjoyable experience for all.
BETTEREXAMINATIONS: BetterExaminations is the quickest and easiest way for students and teachers to access past exam material. BetterExaminations.ie enables users to search and save exam papers in a matter of seconds.
HAMAL: Hamal is developing biodegradable backpacks. Founded by two engineering students, one of whom is intimately familiar with the supermarket sector and another who one day didn’t have a bag when he kind of needed one.
iDly: iDly is a Software As A Service (SAAS) company offering digital identification services to universities and institutions in Ireland. Founded by Mechanical Engineering student and former Students Union Officer Finn Murphy, iDly was formed in order to develop, improve and commercialise the highly successful Trinity Digital Student ID.
NEUROBRANCH: Neurobranch is a cross-platform, cloud-based, bio-research study platform designed for the small to medium sized bio/pharma institutions and academic use. The platform allows researchers unparalleled flexibility in data acquisition, qualification, and quantification retrieved from research candidates, as well as increasing retention rates of study candidates.
SMALLFARMS: Crickets provide us with an alternative source of protein that is more sustainable than current common sources such as beef and soy. With the world’s population expected to reach up to 9.8 billion people by 2050, SmallFarms aims to explore the viability of farming crickets for this purpose.
MATCHDAY: Matchday is a daily fantasy soccer game where users select a fantasy team within a given budget and can compete in private leagues with their friends or in public leagues for the chance to win cash prizes. Points are assigned on the real life performance of the players that match day. Matchday’s goal is to make watching much more exciting for our users.
SURFBUOY: Surfbuoy is an innovative water safety device aimed at individuals partaking in watersports. It is easier and more comfortable to wear and use than lifejackets and buoyancy aids. The device is discreet, comfortable, buoyant only when activated, looks stylish and is relatively inexpensive.
NU: NU. is an innovative ethical fashion community aiming to reinvent the way we shop. We believe in looking great without the environmental and social costs. Nu. runs creative and innovative events in Dublin with a focus on raising awareness of the harms of fast fashion, whilst providing a fun, stylish and affordable alternative. Our objective is to make ethical and sustainable fashion the norm.
GOOD GAMING LEAGUES: Good Gaming Leagues offers a tournament organisation and management platform for competitive online gaming. Gamers can compete in tournaments and leagues against each other for cash prizes. Good Gaming Leagues currently caters for the top games in the e-sports industry.
FALLSAFE: One in three older adults falls every year, and 80% of those who fall cannot get up without assistance. FallSafe is a fast system to help elderly people call for immediate assistance when falls happen. The system comprises a mobile App and a wearable emergency button. Founded by Computer Science & Business student David Cohalan, and Industrial Engineering student Emanuele Ferrari, FallSafe was created to improve the way in which elderly can call for help and reduce the 400 million euro economic costs related to falls in Ireland.
HAYSAVER: HaySaver is a smart-agriculture solution for the prevention of spontaneous haybale combustion. Smart Agriculture is an ever-expanding market, which we aim to target. HaySaver provides warning and early detection of possible fires within a haybale.
CRISERV: CriServ is a social enterprise, which aims to assist refugees in transit through Europe by providing a line of communication to charities on the ground. Our mission is to provide NGOs with enhanced logistical support and beneficial feedback from the recipients of aid, in particular, those affected by the Syrian refugee crisis.
BRINGITWITHU: A crowd-sourced importing business that works with travellers and asks simply that they bring the item you are missing with you when they travel or return to your area.