Innovation Academy Students Pitch Solutions to Real World Challenges

Dec 07, 2011

The final event for the Creative Thinking and Innovation module, run by the Innovation Academy, saw 20 PhD students from both Trinity College Dublin and UCD recently pitch their innovation projects to an audience which included external organisations, academics from both institutions and classmates.  The event, called ‘The Pitch’, saw students take on a range of real world challenges provided by a range of private, public and non-profit organisations, ranging from digitalisation to diagnostics issues.

Working in multidisciplinary groups, each team engaged with issues faced by the host organisations in order to come up with practical and creative solutions and recommendations.  The challenge, which demanded both creativity and an ability to work in teams, culminated with the students presenting their ideas at ‘the Pitch’ event using innovative multimedia presentations which incorporated both video and interactive elements.  The six host organisations included Siemens, National Library of Ireland, Chamco, Cellix Limited, Shabra Recycling and RTI International.

Trinity Course Co-Director at the Innovation Academy, Professor Paul Coughlan said: “Experiential learning and collaboration are central to how the students have worked together.  On completion of this module, the students will apply the same creativity and teamworking skills to uncover the innovation in their thesis research projects so that, on graduation, they may generate new commercial or social value through their entrepreneurship”.

Class of 2011

The Innovation Project presented at ‘The Pitch’ event included:

• Cellix Limited: Product Development for Diagnostics Market.
• Shabra Group: Global Market Leaders in Recycling, Reprocessing and Maunfacturing - Exploring changing attitudes in how we recycle.
• National Libaray of Ireland NLI: The changing role of the National Library in the 21st Century.
• RTI International: Using Social Media to ask Difficult Research Questions.
• Siemens: Changing Behaviour in Northern Ireland to Wind Farms.
• Chamco: Exploring New Applicaitons for Anti-bactiera Biocide.