Lavina Blanking and Aoife Bolster from St.Mary’s College, Derry~Londonderry get creative at the BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp 2013 which begins today at University College Dublin. The four day innovation and skills camp brings together 30 second-level students from across the island of Ireland who demonstrate an ability to understand how and why a simple idea can be developed into a commercially-viable enterprise.

The two Northern Ireland students were selected in January 2013 from nearly 1,200 secondary school students who competed in this year’s BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition at the RDS (Royal Dublin Society) in Dublin. Lavina Blanking was selected for her project ‘Medicinal Safety’ which also won the Irish Medicines Board Special Award at this year’s exhibition. Aoife Bolster was chosen for her project, ‘Investigating if exposure to sunlight (UV) in Northern Ireland can be used to steralise water’.

Shay Walsh, Managing Director, Business, BT Ireland, commented, “In creating the BT Business Bootcamp, our objective was to identify students who demonstrated a natural flair for business and connect them with key business leaders who could impart the knowledge and expertise required to bring them to the next level. Over the course of the programme, our selected students will be given the skills and know-how to transform their innovative business ideas into commercially viable ventures and we look forward to watching their progression in the coming days and indeed years to come”.    

The week will culminate on Thursday 7th March 2013 when the teams will present their business plans to a judging panel including academics and senior business people.  The students from Northern Ireland will have the opportunity to compete for one of the limited number of summer placements that will be awarded at the University of Ulster to the budding entrepreneurs who display originality and a natural flair for business. Summer placements will also be available at NUI Galway, UCD and University of Limerick for the winners and one student will be given the opportunity to address this year’s Dublin Web Summit.

For further information please contact Lyn Sheridan or Katrina Frazer on 028 9066 3000