Tapp – standing for Tolling App – is a smartphone application that aims to transform the way road users pay for tolls. It designed to provide them with the ability to plan, execute and pay for their journey in a more efficient manner. The app will also be able to facilitate ticketing payments for other transport modes such as bus and rail, as well as city congestion and parking charges. The idea is that Tapp users will be fully connected travellers, as commuters will be able to combine all their travel needs into one product and one bill.
Horgan likens the app to an e-wallet for travel services and says he developed the idea because of a sense that commuters didn’t have ownership of the process of interacting with tolling and ticketing systems.
“When I investigated this area I found that people wanted a more self-directed way of organising their transport needs and one which made the process more efficient and convenient. I felt that there was a business opportunity in satisfying that need,” he says.
Horgan’s project is also an example of collaboration with third-level institutions to take an idea from concept to prototype product and beyond. He has worked closely with NUI Maynooth’s National Centre for Geocomputation (NCG) and the Department of Computer Science to develop a working model. While commercialisation has yet to be fully explored, the opportunities for collaboration with transport service providers are obvious. Horgan is now working with a technology transfer officer at the university to explore ways to commercialise the product.
This year’s winner is also a good example of a project that can be feasibly commercialised and has the capacity to be scaled internationally, something the judges were keenly aware of.
The 2011 judging panel featured some of Ireland's leading business figures from across various industries and sectors: Bruce Robinson, former head of NI Civil Service; Josephine Feehily, chairman of the Revenue Commissioners; Mary Lou Nolan, general manager of Cisco Ireland; Liam Kavanagh, managing director of The Irish Times; along with Accenture Ireland's country managing director, Mark Ryan, and client director, Marian Corcoran.
“It was a daunting experience presenting to the judges as I knew that I had to impress a group of highly informed business leaders,” Horgan recalls. “Thankfully, the mentoring process which each of the finalists participated in included a development module on presentation skills, which was of great assistance in distilling everything down to a very relevant 15-minute presentation.”
The Leaders of Tomorrow programme helped Horgan to refine the idea and during his internship he will also have ongoing help and mentoring with the idea in an incubator process that has been built into the programme. He will also enjoy a week-long trip to New York where he will get the opportunity to meet with Accenture staff and US business leaders.
Accenture is now seeking applications from the best and brightest third-level students across the island of Ireland as part of the Accenture Leaders of Tomorrow Award 2012, in partnership with The Irish TimesInnovation magazine. The graduate award programme is now celebrating its fifth year, with the next winner set to receive an Idea Incubation Internship with Accenture as well as a leadership tour to New York.
Participants in the 2012 Award must demonstrate and develop their business leadership skills through three rounds of competition where they get the chance to test their abilities against their peers by taking part in a series of leadership development days. The finalists in the third and final round get the opportunity to present their researched business proposal to a high-profile judging panel of business leaders at the Accenture offices in Dublin.
Accenture’s Colin Ryan, who has overseen the awards since their inception five year ago, says that there is now an ever greater need to encourage entrepreneurship at graduate level in Ireland. There will be an increasing emphasis this year on assessing the commercial viability of the entries with the aim of helping the best ones to get to market, he says.
“Increasingly in these awards, what we’re looking for is a combination of individuals with true entrepreneurial flair and drive plus ideas that we can see being developed and brought to market,” he says.
Mark Ryan, managing director for Accenture Ireland, adds: “Hundreds of students have now come through the Accenture Leader of Tomorrow Awards process and every year we continue to be amazed at the high level of ambition, talent and entrepreneurship that exists among Irish students the length and breadth of the country.”
The Accenture Leaders of Tomorrow Award is open to third-level students from colleges and institutes of technology across the island of Ireland. To apply, students should visit www.accenture.com/LOT. Applications close November 21st, 2011
