The Northern Ireland Science Park is celebrating a bumper crop of more than 80 pioneering inventions in the worlds of science, technology and the creative industries as part of its 'Invent' 2015 competition.
Some 83 of the most innovative individuals and teams put themselves forward for the search to find inventions with the greatest commercial potential across six sectors- creative media and consumer internet; agri-food; life & health; engineering; electronics and enterprise software.
They whittled down to 24 after a series of intensive pitches and will now reveal their prototypes to the public for the first time in a special “QuickPitch” event in front of 200 people at W5 in Belfast on Thursday May 28.
NISP Connect programme manager Peter Edgar said: “We know the people of Northern Ireland are an inventive bunch, and this year they have exceeded themselves with over 80 inventions being entered.
"It just goes to show that innovation isn’t just something that goes on behind the closed doors of high-tech research labs. These are people who are coming up with ideas to solve every day, global problems. In our top 24 we have engineers, design students, and even surfers.
“We were amazed by the quality of the entrants this year, and by that I mean not just the actual prototypes, but the people behind them too. They’re so passionate about what they have created and now they just need expert advice from our network of entrepreneurs at NISP CONNECT to help develop the commercial potential.”
Twelve finalists chosen after the semi-final on May 28 will take part in a six-month programme at the Science Park which will see their inventions challenged and refined.
The Invent Awards 2015, sponsored by Bank of Ireland UK, will then take place on October 8, when the winner will bid to emulate 2014 victor Plotbox, which has created software for cemeteries and crematoria to manage all their operations in one place.
