Queen’s Students’ Union hosted the Awards Ceremony for its annual What’s the Big Idea? competition on Tuesday 2 December, celebrating the creativity, ambition, and entrepreneurial spirit of students from across the University.
The competition, sponsored by Ormeau Business Park and Kainos, gives Queen’s students the chance to compete for a share of a £7,000 prize fund and 10 award categories. Whether students have thought of a novel business idea overnight or are already running their exciting own ventures, it provides the valuable opportunity to build their business skills, gain feedback, and connect with local entrepreneurs.
The competition’s highest accolade, Best Overall Idea was awarded to Yogiraj Jakkal, Business Administration master’s student, who received £2,000 for ‘FluoroApt™’, a smart, aptamer-based liquid biopsy kit that detects breast cancer through a simple fluid test.
READ MORE: Queen's Researcher Wins Recognition for Work Accelerating Disease Discovery
Also taking one of the competition’s top awards, was Grace McShane, final year Mechanical Engineering student, who was awarded Most Innovative Business Idea, and received £1,000 for her idea: ‘The Self Cooling Insulin Storage Device’, a portable container designed to store insulin at the optimal temperature range of 2-6 °C, even when in remote or hot climate environments.
The Awards Ceremony recognised the achievements of all finalists and welcomed an audience of judges, University staff, and business leaders from across Belfast. Special guests Aidan McGeary from Mude Clothing and Matthew Murnaghan from Vibrotect also joined the event, sharing their entrepreneurial journeys and offering inspiring insights into starting and scaling a business.
Robbie Mulvenna-Jamison, Enterprise Development Officer from the SU Enterprise Team of Queen’s Students’ Union said: “SU Enterprise is delighted to have celebrated another highly successful year of the ‘What’s The Big Idea’ Awards. Receiving a record number of submissions gave our judges the unenviable task of selecting their winners, but also demonstrates the thriving entrepreneurial community at Queen’s. All entrants should be proud of their participation in what was a highly competitive iteration of ‘What’s The Big Idea?’. We look forward to seeing how these ideas come to life!”
Sync NI's Autumn 2025 magazine explores how Northern Ireland is moving AI from pilot to production
This issue features exclusive insights from industry leaders on real-world AI implementation, responsible adoption, enterprise infrastructure, and how data-driven innovation is transforming businesses across the region.
Read the Big Data Special Edition free online →
Stay connected with NI's tech community:
Subscribe to our newsletter – Get the latest tech news, job opportunities, and events delivered to your inbox
Visit Sync NI – Your daily source for Northern Ireland technology news
