13 March, 2015

An app for busy farmers offering them an online portal to register the birth of newly born calves quickly and easily which will increase efficiency by speeding up the process and allowing the farmer to read the tags with their smartphone and instantly register the calf online was the winner of the fourth annual Apprentice competition which took place at Cork Institute of Technology as part of CIT innovation Week.  This app will streamline the existing lengthy process in the farming sector. The aim of the competition is to get the creative juices flowing and to encourage the design of app ideas from CIT students and FETAC students from Cork Colleges Progression Scheme; Coláiste Stiofáin Naofa, St. John's Central College, Cork College of Commerce, Kinsale College of Further Education and CityNorth College.
The competition was a tremendous success with over 139 entries from all the different colleges, including Computing, Social Care, Business, Multimedia, Engineering, Tourism and Hospitality, Nautical Science, Business Information Systems, Marketing, Accounting and Agriculture. Some of the entries included an app for increased phone security, connecting parents and teachers to discuss child progress, increasing safety for workers in the utilities sector, a bullying support platform and an app to promote positive mental health.
The apps were assessed by judges from industry including Conor Quigley; CEO Safe Care Technologies, Joe Dermody; Commercial Supplements and Training Editor at Irish Examiner, Fiona Kingston; Programme Director of BusinessWomenCan at Ulster Bank; David McCarthy, CEO and founder of Ark Platform Limited, Honor Moore, Partner  Deloitte , Prof Andreas Sonning, The Norwegian Academy of Music.
Congratulations to all the participants and especially to the winners of the competition: Kate O' Sullivan for Kidslink; Emmet O'Brien and James Cotter for Waiting4Waiters and Jonta Finnegan and Brendan Prior who were poster winners for Amigo. And last but not least Congratulations to Richard Barrett our overall APPrentice Winner 2015, who is currently in his 2nd year of the Bachelor of Science in Craft Technology (Wood) with Business.