Posted on: 26 April 2005
Olaf O’Moore, a final year student in the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering won a runners-up prize in The Enterprise Ireland Student Awards. Olaf’s winning development is a Radio Frequency Access Control System (RFID), a “hands-free” system, which can check a person in or out of a building without having to swipe a card or enter a pin code. The system is targeted at Crèches, Montessori Schools and Banks or other organizations in the private sector where security is of the highest importance but where people need the freedom to move quickly between different locations. This year nearly every college in Ireland entered the Awards, which aim to develop and promote entrepreneurship among third level students in colleges and institutions throughout the island of Ireland. The competition rewards innovative and enterprising business ideas aimed at the establishment of a manufacturing industry or internationally traded service, backed up by a financially sound business plan. Sponsored by Enterprise Ireland, Invest NI and Ulster Bank the awards carry the richest prize fund for any third level student competition in Ireland. As a runner up Olaf received a prize of €3,250.00 Speaking at the presentation of the Awards, Minister Micheál Martin T.D., Minister for Enterprise trade & Employment, said “The emergence of a genuine culture of entrepreneurship in Ireland has been one of the most satisfying elements of the economic success of the past decade. The continuation and strengthening of this culture is crucial to the positioning of Ireland as an advanced developed economy. These awards are part of a process of fostering a spirit of entrepreneurship at an early stage with third level students.”
