Zaur AI – Your Guide from Idea to Impact

Context

This showcase is based within the Open Incubator at Trinity College Dublin, a university-wide platform that supports student innovation and entrepreneurship. Zaur-AI is a GenAI tool, primarily used by undergraduate and postgraduate students from a variety of disciplines, especially those without a traditional background in business or technology. Zaur-AI acts as an AI-assisted mentor integrated into the learning experience to support students in refining ideas, developing pitch decks, and preparing for assessments such as demo days or feasibility reports. The majority of users are in early-stage idea development phases, with varying degrees of prior entrepreneurial knowledge.

What was your goal in utilising GenAI as part of the teaching process?

The goal was to empower students to navigate the early stages of startup ideation and innovation project development independently, with the support of AI. Many students, particularly those from non-business backgrounds, lacked confidence or access to mentorship.

Our aim was to embed Gen AI to create an equitable, scalable learning companion that would support brainstorming, critical thinking and output creation. By introducing Zaur-AI, we intended to reduce dependence on real-time human facilitation and promote self-paced learning. We also wanted to experiment with how GenAI tools could enhance creativity and encourage students to take ownership of their learning journeys, particularly when it came to assessments involving startup projects or social innovation proposals.

How did you use GenAI to enhance teaching, learning and/or assessment?

Zaur-AI was designed using a no-code Artificial Intelligence builder to create a structured conversational assistant that mimics the questioning style of a mentor. It has been embedded in the Open Incubator portal and is accessible 24/7 to all students in Ireland.

Key features and educational uses include:

• Idea Mentoring: Students could enter their initial idea and Zaur-AI would guide them through refining it, using prompts such as 'What problem are you solving?' and 'Who are your early users?'.
• Assessment Support: For deliverables such as the pitch deck and executive summary, Zaur-AI offered guidance based on templates and learning outcomes aligned with entrepreneurial education (e.g. problem–solution fit, market research and value proposition).

Learning outcomes aligned with this AI integration included:

• Ability to clearly define a problem and ideate solutions
• Confidence in using innovation frameworks
• Development of entrepreneurial mindset competencies, such as resilience, creativity and initiative.

What were the outcomes of using GenAI in this way?

The tool was piloted during extracurricular innovation challenges, pre-accelerator programmes, and boot camps. Its introduction resulted in a significant increase in student engagement in the early stages of idea development, particularly among non-business students. Many participants reported feeling more comfortable exploring their ideas with an AI coach because it eliminated the fear of judgement that is often associated with sharing unpolished thoughts. These private, chat-based interactions lowered the barrier to entry for students from underrepresented disciplines, encouraging them to engage with entrepreneurship concepts in a safe and supportive way.

Anecdotal feedback and informal surveys revealed that students appreciated the 24/7 availability, structured guidance and the fact that they could ask 'basic' or 'silly' questions without hesitation. While a formal quantitative evaluation is underway, initial qualitative insights highlight Zaur-AI’s role in democratising access to innovation support, particularly for those with no prior experience of startup thinking.

What did you learn as part of this process, and is there anything you would do differently?

We learned that GenAI tools can help students who are intimidated by innovation frameworks or lack access to one-to-one coaching. We were surprised by how much students appreciated the conversational format, even when it wasn't perfect, because it mimicked real mentoring. Another unexpected outcome was that non-business students preferred to chat with Zaur-AI.

What we’d improve next time:

• Build more discipline-specific AI tracks (e.g. climate solutions, healthcare and social innovation).
• Combine Zaur-AI with our faculty-driven innovation aid kit.

GenAI Tool Used:

• AI Mentor