Finalists revealed for INVENT 2021, Northern Ireland’s leading innovation competition

by Startacus Admin
Ten innovative startups with the potential to shape the future have been named as finalists in INVENT 2021, Northern Ireland’s challenging competition for early stage businesses
The finalists for INVENT 2021, Northern Ireland’s most exciting and challenging competition for entrepreneurial early-stage businesses have now been revealed.
Organised by science and technology hub Catalyst with headline partner Bank of Ireland, INVENT is an annual celebration of the brightest new business ideas in the region, which supports, showcases and rewards the local innovations and proof of concept ideas that have the greatest commercial potential.
Ten innovative startups have been drawn from five different categories, to reflect global trends and to help capture great ideas from across the full spectrum of innovation in Northern Ireland. The finalists selected are:
Greentech
BODtech - simple technology to make clean, sustainable and clean energy available to communities across the country.
Tankcube - uses low-carbon technology for domestic hot water, to help achieve your NetZero.
Health & Wellbeing
Informed Minds - an app that shares peer and professional support through short real-life vlogs to tackle the stigma around mental health wellbeing issues head on together.
Stim Oxygen - enhances the effects of cancer treatment by overcoming hypoxia in solid tumours.
Product
Excavator Forklift - a mini-digger lifting attachment which allows digger users to treble the lifting capacity of their excavator.
Safewater Technologies - a simple to use IoT portable device for determining faecal contamination of drinking water for use in rural communities without access to labs.
Consumer Software
Ecko - an online audio-based collaboration platform that connects people from all around the globe
Stable Manager - the equestrian world's new hub. Quantify performance, simplify horse care & streamline your equine business with this purpose-built mobile app.
Business Software
Anneal - an engineering collaboration and knowledge management platform for high-performing engineering teams
Defensive Thinking - provides a 360 data-to-intelligence solution by providing UN Peacekeepers with the ability to transform geospatial data into action.
Each INVENT category winner will receive £5,000 and the overall winner will take home an additional £20,000, giving a top prize of £25,000. Additional prizes of £1,000 will be awarded to the best student application and the best elevator pitch delivered on the night of the INVENT Awards on September 30.
Kerry McGarvey, Programme Manager, INVENT 2021, said: “This competition is designed to shine a light on the ingenuity and creativity of local entrepreneurs, which has been in greater need than ever over the past 18 months. We have been really encouraged by the high standard of applicants for INVENT and amazed by the quality and disruptive potential of their innovations and products, many of which have been developed during the pandemic. This bodes well for the future of the local innovation economy and we wish all of the finalists the best of luck for the big day in September.”
We’ll be reporting back on the lucky winners in September. In the meantime, good luck to all the finalists!
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Published on: 23rd June 2021
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