Business bootcamp inspires students

THE record-breaking solo yachtswoman and founder of
the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Dame Ellen MacArthur, was just one of the
speakers at a recent business seminar in UCD that was held to inspire students.

The leading entrepreneurial school students in Dublin
were engaged in the recent business bootcamp that aims to put them in the best
position possible for a future career.

They attended the intensive mentoring and innovation
skills camp at UCD that was aimed at equipping them with the skills to take
their ideas from the schoolroom to the boardroom.

The BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp brought
together 32 second-level students from both sides of the border who have
demonstrated an ability to understand how and why ideas can be developed into
commercially-viable enterprises.

The participants were selected from over 1,200
secondary school students who competed in this year’s BT Young Scientist &
Technology Exhibition at the RDS.

The programme, established in 2010 by BT and delivered
with NovaUCD, assists in bridging the gap between education and business.

It also allows BT to provide the next phase of
development for the talented students who participate in its annual Young Scientist competition.

Shay Walsh of BT Ireland said Ireland had a rich,
natural resource in the form of its young people.

“However, we need to cultivate a climate of
commercialisation, and providing students with the tools they need to convert
pioneering concepts into feasible solutions is an effective means of
engineering,

? he said.

During the four-day skills programme at NovaUCD students met business leaders, academics,
enterprise boards and high performance sports personalities.

Dame Ellen, whose Ellen MacArthur Foundation already
works with BT, spent an afternoon with the students taking them through her
vision for a circular economy.

The model encourages business to harness innovation
and creativity to enable a positive, restorative economy that will work in the
long term.

“The work we do at the foundation is all about
inspiring young people to re-think the future,

? she said.

“In a rapidly
changing world the most important skills available to us are our creativity and
imagination. Initiatives like the BT Young
Scientist Business Bootcamp can help unlock that potential.

?