From November 15th-17th, myself and three other transition year students in my year travelled in and out of NUIG for Bank of Ireland's Transition Year Academy. From the very beginning, we were all split up into groups of either four or five students, all from different schools. We were put through our paces fairly early on due to the 'marshmallow spaghetti tower' competition. Every group had to attempt to build a sturdy tower from just marshmallows and spaghetti. The tallest tower that could stand independently and was the tallest in the room completed by any group would win a prize. This was a great ice breaker and helped us realise everyone's different strengths and weakness' in the group eg. communication, logical thinking.
After various speakers talking about different reasons for hosting the TY Academy in NUIG, we got working together in our groups in the hopes of solving a international problem that effects many people in different walks of life. After long deliberations amoung our group, our final product was a sports watch powered by the wearer that generated electricity from an increase in body temperature. This electricity could later be used to charge your phone and therefore, this product tackles two very different problems that the world faces today, obesity and energy conservation. As our sports watch doesn't use any fossil-fuel generated energy, this product is completely enviromentally friendly and as many rewards and extra features are in our app, we think this product would encourage more adults and children to exercise on a more daily basis.
The following morning was spent developing our business idea. We worked alongside the LEAN canvas which included the main hallmarks of a successful business. To maintain a successful business we had to research many areas of our product. As our product was pretty technologically advanced we had to do a huge amount of research on how we could actually get the watch to work and the material we would need to source to create a prototype. We worked out costs, marketing strategies, presentations for our product to present to the dragons and much more.
The third and final day was by far the most hectic day on campus. In the morning, my team and I finalised our presentation to present to the dragons in the afternoon. After a quick run through with one of the organisers, my team was ready to face a real dragon. In the afternoon, we presented our product in a boardroom in front of a dragon, an organiser and approximately 20 fellow students. We emerged as heat winners and progressed to the next stage of the competition which involved pitching our product in a room full of students (approx. 60), 3 dragons and endless amounts of Academy organisers. This was a nerve-wrecking experience but it certainly pushed me out of my comfort zone.
Unfortunatley, we didn't win, but I would consider reaching the final a mammoth achievement as I gained essential experience working as part of a team and at the same time having fun and meeting fellow students from all over the county.
After various speakers talking about different reasons for hosting the TY Academy in NUIG, we got working together in our groups in the hopes of solving a international problem that effects many people in different walks of life. After long deliberations amoung our group, our final product was a sports watch powered by the wearer that generated electricity from an increase in body temperature. This electricity could later be used to charge your phone and therefore, this product tackles two very different problems that the world faces today, obesity and energy conservation. As our sports watch doesn't use any fossil-fuel generated energy, this product is completely enviromentally friendly and as many rewards and extra features are in our app, we think this product would encourage more adults and children to exercise on a more daily basis.
The following morning was spent developing our business idea. We worked alongside the LEAN canvas which included the main hallmarks of a successful business. To maintain a successful business we had to research many areas of our product. As our product was pretty technologically advanced we had to do a huge amount of research on how we could actually get the watch to work and the material we would need to source to create a prototype. We worked out costs, marketing strategies, presentations for our product to present to the dragons and much more.
The third and final day was by far the most hectic day on campus. In the morning, my team and I finalised our presentation to present to the dragons in the afternoon. After a quick run through with one of the organisers, my team was ready to face a real dragon. In the afternoon, we presented our product in a boardroom in front of a dragon, an organiser and approximately 20 fellow students. We emerged as heat winners and progressed to the next stage of the competition which involved pitching our product in a room full of students (approx. 60), 3 dragons and endless amounts of Academy organisers. This was a nerve-wrecking experience but it certainly pushed me out of my comfort zone.
Unfortunatley, we didn't win, but I would consider reaching the final a mammoth achievement as I gained essential experience working as part of a team and at the same time having fun and meeting fellow students from all over the county.