Tool places learners in virtual world

TWO ENTREPRENEURS who have turned language learning into a computer game have won the 2009 David Manley Emerging Entrepreneur award.

RendezVu by Paul Groarke and Garrett Hussey allows language learners to interact in a virtual world featuring cafes, train stations and banks.

Mr Groarke and Mr Hussey, whose company is based in UCD’s Nova innovation centre, are former employees of Baltimore Technologies and have been involved in the e-learning industry for the past six years. Mr Groarke said they were motivated to develop RendezVu because research had indicated that language students suffer from having no way to practise regularly.

The software uses avatars to “immerse” students in a foreign-speaking environment. A beta version of the product will be launched in the UK in the second quarter, while a product for English students will be targeted at the Korean and Taiwanese markets in the coming years.

RendezVu will receive €10,000 in cash and a package of mentoring and consultancy services estimated to be worth €100,000. The company was awarded the prize by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan and the entrepreneur Chris Horn at a ceremony in Dublin yesterday.

Dr Horn said he was disturbed by the emphasis that politicians were placing on cutting costs: “We should really be looking at how we can create value, create wealth and then tax it to support the most vulnerable.”

Polish psychologist Krystian Fikert was the winner of the emerging social entrepreneur award. In 2006, Mr Fikert set up the PPD Psychological Centre in Dublin in order to address the psychological needs of people who might otherwise be waiting for months for an appointment.

Jennifer Jennings and Phillip McMahon of theatre production company ThisIsPopBaby were the winners of the emerging arts entrepreneur award.

David Manley, who died in 2002, was a president of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce and chairman of Business2Arts.