Budding entrepreneurs from all academic disciplines across Letterkenny Institute of Technology came together to brainstorm ideas for the national Student Entrepreneur Awards run by Enterprise Ireland.
Dr Isobel Cunningham, organiser of the event and lecturer with the LYIT School of Business said, “I have been working closely with our Head of School of Business, Michael Margey to further develop the entrepreneurship ethos across all disciplines of the college and offer students creative mechanisms to support their entrepreneurial focus. The Student Entrepreneur Awards do just that.
“I was delighted to have so many students in attendance and I was particularly impressed with the range of subject disciplines. We had many students from the other three academic schools from within the college, Science, Computing and Hospitality and Tourism along with students from Business Studies.
“I felt it was important that students heard first hand from a young and successful fashion and clothing entrepreneur, Thomas McLaughlin, who provided inspiration and practical insights”.
This event was the ideal platform for students to learn about the new ErasmusPlus funded project that LYIT is involved in – Generation Data.
Generation Data seeks to provide teachers and lecturers with the knowledge and skills they need to teach smart data to today’s students and future entrepreneurs. Over the remaining 18 months, the project will deliver on outputs culminating in the realisation of an online course through an open education resource system, which will be free and available to everyone who wants to improve their knowledge around smart data and its application in business and enterprise development.
Commenting on her involvement in the project Dr Cunningham said, “I am very much looking forward to meeting project partners when they visit Galway next month and will be hosted by fellow Irish partner Feltech Software Innovations Ltd. Our students and staff have been busy contributing to our project research and we look forward to analysing the results. In the meantime, I would encourage anyone wishing to find out more about the project to check out our website and related social media pages at www.generationdata.eu”.
John Andy Bonar, VP for Research, Equality and External Affairs said Letterkenny Institute of Technology is extremely proud of the pivotal role we play in the economic development of the North West region.
“We have been actively growing our numbers of international students and our profile internationally with a view to showcasing the possibilities of the North West and of course our capabilities as a higher education provider. We are delighted that with initiatives such as these, we are beginning to reap the fruits of our efforts,” he said.
