Catalyst has announced the finalists of INVENT 2024, the leading competition for aspiring innovators and entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland.
Organised by science and technology hub Catalyst with headline partner Bank of Ireland, the inspirational INVENT showcase is the main event of the year for early-stage startups and aspiring entrepreneurs to showcase their innovations to a panel of expert judges.
To reflect the different forms that innovation takes, this year’s INVENT has refreshed its awards into six new categories: Green Horizons, Living Well, Creative Leisure, BioBreakthroughs, Unchartered Ideas and Future Business.
From reimagining leisure experiences to exploring environmental solutions, each category has produced excellent finalists who have created a product or service that stand out and solves a real-world problem faced in these industries.
From KIJN’s SmartFit leggings and tops, which offer sustainable leak protection for menstrual, urinary and breast leaks, to Equipple’s app designed to streamline parent-teacher meetings and reduce workload for schools, the 2024 finalists have been selected not only because of their inspirational idea but because they solve real-world problems and have scalability to become a commercial business.
The twelve finalists are:
Green Horizons: e-breathe, zeco
Living Well: MediPacks Ltd, Cybersyd
Creative Leisure: KIJN, The Switchboard Network
BioBreakthroughs: Dia Beta Labs Ltd. Galvani TECH
Unchartered Ideas: TalkTerms, Bikeloxz
Future Business: ITUS Secure Technologies, Equipple
INVENT’s overall prize totals £55,000, with each category winner taking home £5,000 and the overall winner walking away with an additional £20,000, totalling a £25,000 top prize.
Last year's winners, Plugable, have since launched their pilot in the UK & Irish markets, introduced their B2B product, opened their fundraising round, and raised £150k in equity-free funding, all while remaining bootstrapped.
Catalyst is focused on fostering inclusive innovation and developing entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland by providing everything entrepreneurs need to reach higher and succeed faster.
Meg Magill, INVENT Programme Manager at Catalyst said: “Every year we are amazed by the talented pool of entrepreneurs across Northern Ireland and this year’s participants are no different. With six new categories this year, we are delighted to see the 2024 INVENT candidates create clever, problem-solving and commercially thought-out ideas across a range of industries. Good luck to all finalists and we look forward to the awards ceremony in October.”
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Niall Devlin, Head of Business Banking NI at Bank of Ireland said: “This year’s INVENT participants have once again demonstrated a really high standard of innovation and entrepreneurship, with ideas and businesses that are both original and commercial, which makes the judging decisions hugely difficult.
It’s inspiring to see the vision, creativity, ambition and entrepreneurial spirit that exists across Northern Ireland. We have selected 12 outstanding finalists, showcasing the best of our economic and enterprising future talent. These are tomorrow’s business leaders, each offering new solutions with local and global potential. Congratulations to all the finalists, we wish them every success as they progress through the remaining stages of the competition, and we are very much looking forward to announcing the winners at the INVENT Awards later this year.”
The INVENT awards ceremony will be hosted at the ICC Waterfront in Belfast on Thursday 3 October. To book tickets visit: invent24.co/awards
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