USI student innovation event attracts hundreds

The scent of sweet candy floss and buttered popcorn was everywhere in Dublin Castle on Thursday.

But this was no popcorn convention.

Unfamiliar with the annual Student Summit event? Think of the web summit but with a modest budget, no wifi connectivity issues, overpriced sambos or Paddy Cosgrave.

Now in its third year, the Student Summit was the brainchild of the Union of Students’ in Ireland (USI). The aim of the gathering, which hosted over 800 students from second and third-level institutions, was to promote entrepreneurship and innovation.

USI President, Kevin Donoghue told how he first dipped his toe into the pool of entrepreneurship when he opened a tuck shop from empty lockers in his secondary school following the closure of the school shop.

He told the summit that there is an onus on the USI to encourage students to be enterprising and he praised those who have shown an enterprising spirit.

“When everyone else has a problem they see an opportunity, a chance to fix it or to provide a certain service that just isn’t there,” Donoghue said.

The corridors were filled with eager students deep in conversation with each other and with guest speakers. Business cards were exchanged, and ideas were aired as the new generation of Irish entrepreneurs endeavoured to begin making their mark on the business world.

The event featured 16 workshops, 40 start-up companies and a series of presentations from business speakers and entrepreneurs.

Speakers included Ronan Costello who works on public policy for Twitter and Féilim Mac An Iomaire, the PR and media relations manager at Paddy Power.

The subject of talks ranged from setting up in the USA to how to perfect a graduate CV.

The lack of diversity in the work-force was a prevailing theme and also the focus of a keynote speech given by Ann O’Dea, CEO and co-founder of Silicon Republic.

While Ms O’Dea employs men and women in equal parts she does not do so for the sake of tokenism.

A workforce that is gender-balanced is better-equipped to cater to the need of society at large, she said, and gender equality will - in turn - promote new levels of innovation. Women have a certain set of skills that are wasted when they are not employed in equal measure to their male counterparts, she added.

But, does she think her company is an outlier in its approach to recruitment?

“I fear so. I think it comes down hugely to the fact that our co-founding team, myself and my co-founder are male and female.

“So if you think of it, me, my co-founder and maybe another senior manager might be the recruiting panel.

“You’re obviously going to look with a more open mind because you have a diverse panel, you’re going to end up with a diverse work force.  Any time I went for an interview when I was younger, it was all guys,” she explained.

Ms O'Dea also touched on the perception that entrepreneurship is a glamorous vocation.

“Sometimes I worry it gets a little fashionable to become a start-up and i mean, a start-up is just a business and a business needs customers and sales and that’s all hard work getting that stuff so it’s just really important that people see past the glamour,” she said.

She went on to discredit the emergence of “wantrepreneurs”, who she describes as: “People who are more interested in being an entrepreneur than they are in their idea. So unless you have an idea that adds value and is unique, you’re probably better off just going out and getting a job.”

By traversing the myriad of booths present at the summit, it is apparent that the supports and market for entrepreneurship, particularly for young innovators, are vast.

Students largely fronted the booths, reaching out to fellow budding entrepreneurs with information on business supports and job opportunities.

UCD English and Music student Grace Conheady encouraged passers-by to earn extra money by joining the Deliveroo team.

Amr Dawood, a biomedical engineering student at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), informed attendees about the Blackstone Launch Pad at TCD, a fund and mentorship programme to assist students in launching their own startups.

“It’s helping students empower themselves by creating future job opportunities,” Mr Dawood explained. Students in need of tuition were privy to information on the Unituition service which Sean Judge explained is operated by students for students.

The conference also hosted a pitching contest. Two students competed to win €1,500 for their respective startups before a panel of business experts.

Espressio a coffee delivery service took home the Enterprise Ireland sponsored grant.

The summit ultimately exemplified the inherent "do it yourself” attitude amongst the youth of today.

Attendees gleefully accepted samples of Mor Irish Gin and eloquently posed questions to their business role models. For those that lambast Generation Y for their self-indulgence and laziness, I think a trip to the Student Summit 2017 would induce a sharp change of mind.

Not phased by the demise of the Celtic Tiger in their teenage years, these students are determined to make a go of it and, in the USI, they are supported by a body that clearly believes they are well capable of doing so.