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Awards

Innovative Student Engineer of the Year Award sponsored by Siemens

Do you have an innovative engineering idea that you want to take to the next level?
Are you interested in showcasing that idea to professional engineers, industry leaders and entrepreneurs?
Want to share in a prize of €2,000?

If so then you could be our next Innovative Student Engineer of the Year!

This annual award focuses on showcasing innovation excellence among engineering third-level students across Ireland. If you're studying an accredited engineering programme then you're eligible to enter.

Our awards identify leaders within the engineering industry and provide an opportunity to showcase and celebrate the invaluable contribution the engineering profession makes to society.

How to apply

There are three stages to the application.

1. Project summary

The 500 word project must be submitted in the format of a PowerPoint presentation (no more than 10 slides) or a 3 minute video Judges will assess all valid entries and announce the shortlist All entries will receive a special Engineers Ireland pack, including an Engineers Ireland hat and notebook

2. Full report

If you're shortlisted, you must then submit a 500-word report on your project under the following criteria: TECHNICAL – outline the engineering principles underpinning the project. DESIGN – describe the design process and the key features and elements of the project. INNOVATION – describe how this project compares with existing knowledge, research, designs and/or products. COMMERCIAL VIABILITY – outline the route to market and where applicable please refer to your business plan, financing, manufacture, distribution, marketing and sales strategy. TECHNOLOGY - digitalisation / new business models / AI /sensors / cloud / etc.

3. Live presentation

Shortlisted candidates will then present their projects and be interviewed by a panel of industry experts including previous winners at an event in Dublin in October 2020.

Submit your project

Submit your 500-word project to innovativestudent@engineersireland.ie.

Past winners

2019 - The Cotter Crate

Students: Jack Cotter, Limerick IT and Nick Cotter, UCC

The Cotter Crate, developed by Jack Cotter (21)and younger brother Nick (18) was deemed the best innovation by the Engineers Ireland judging panel.

The Cotter Crate is lamb handling system that facilitates the quick, safe, easy and accurate administration of vaccines, doses and drenches to lambs from 3 weeks of age. The innovative crate assists by safely and comfortably restraining lambs, allowing a farmer to administer multiple treatments quickly and accurately. The Cotter brothers have estimated that when using the Cotter Crate a farmer can dose 400 lambs an hour on one dose and dose 200 lambs with 4 treatments, lowering labour time and costs when compared with current methods.

2017 – The Bucket Bagger

Student: Aron Purser, IT Carlow

Aron Purser

About the project:

Aron Purser’s project, the forklift ‘Bucket Bagger’, was designed to meet the requirements of the agricultural and construction sector. The ‘Bucket Bagger’ is an attachment placed on the front of a forklift, which is used to fill bulk bags. Previously, no bucket existed for forklifts, other than those for teleporters, which were unsuitable for use and also limited driver visibility during operation.

2016 – Automatically Fed Post Driver

Students: Colm Morley, Shane Timoney, Caolan Treanor and Conor Walsh, IT Sligo

IT Sligo

About the project:

The IT Sligo students won the Innovative Student Engineer of the Year Award for their design, titled ‘Automatically fed post driver’. The project allowed tractor operators to drive posts without having to dismount their tractors, significantly improving the safety and efficiency of the process. Previously there had been no post drivers that are able to hold, feed and drive a post without the operator having to dismount the tractor.

2015 – Tippy Talk

Student: Rob Laffan, Limerick Institute of Technology

Rob Laffin

An automation and control engineering student, Rob Laffan won the Innovative Student Engineer of the Year award for his project Tippy Talk, which uses automation technology for communicating across a multitude of non-verbal disabilities such as autism. He developed his project as a result of first-hand experience with his autistic daughter Sadie.