CHANCE FOR BUDDING ENTREPRENEURS TO BRING THEIR IDEA TO COMMERCIAL REALITY

Applications open for April programme of IGNITE at UCC 

The IGNITE programme at UCC, which helps start-ups to progress to the next level, is accepting new applications for the next start-up incubation programme starting in April 2024.  

The programme is open to anyone who has graduated from a third level institution in recent years and has the passion and ambition to work on an idea that has the potential for economic, environmental or social impact.  

Over the years, the programme has supported recent graduates returning to Ireland from foreign travels, international students interested in staying in Ireland to develop their start-up and late stage Masters or PhD students working on a start-up idea.

The IGNITE programme has worked with 170 start-ups over the last 12 years and these companies have created more than 370 jobs. 

IGNITE Director Eamon Curtin said; “We are extremely proud of all our graduates who have demonstrated determination and commitment to their start-up idea and have worked extremely hard to turn it into a commercial reality.  IGNITE offers several valuable resources to help them on their journey including seminars, workshops, guest speakers, mentoring, fundraising and a workspace to help grow their business idea.  We have seen some really exciting businesses come out of the programme and we are looking forward to working with the next group of participants.”

Corkman Stephen MacCarthy, co-founder and CTO of RecruitRoo is one of those who completed the programme in October 2022.  He graduated from UCD with a Masters Degree and returned to Cork to develop his start-up.

RecruitRoo provides companies with access to global talent by building technology solutions that reduce the friction of screening, migration and onboarding.  Last year, the company secured funding of €1 million from Delta Partners with participation from Enterprise Ireland and several other investors.

Co-founder of LegitFit, Ryan O’Neill, is another of IGNITE’s success stories.  The Cork man helped set up the fitness platform which now has a global customer base.

IGNITE is supported by University College Cork, Bank of Ireland, the Local Enterprise Offices of Cork City, South Cork and North and West Cork, Cork City Council and Cork County Council. 

Applications close on Monday, February 26th 2024 and people can apply on ignite.ucc.ie