Celebrating International Innovation this St. Patrick’s Day

CoderDojo was initially founded in Ireland, less than five years ago. From humble beginnings our community based programming clubs have spread worldwide, spanning sixty-five countries, from Bolivia to Japan. This St. Patrick’s day we decided to recognise the contributions of five tech entrepreneurs from Ireland whose innovations have spread internationally. We hope to continue to inspire and support young tech innovators globally through CoderDojo Coolest Projects and for the first year, Launch’d.  This incorporated event connects CoderDojo entrepreneurs with people already established in the tech industry.

So here they are, in no particular order:

• ChangeX, founded by Paul O’Hara, is a global change platform connecting people with like-minded people and great ideas so they can work on causes they’re passionate about, including CoderDojo. In July, ChangeX raised €400,000 in seed funding from investors and currently has over 2,500 local projects around Ireland.

• Huma founded by Thomas Cullen and Kevin Holler is a start-up focused on graduate jobs and connecting students with quality, paid internships. Huma’s personal approach matches users with the right paid internships. As co-founder Kevin Holler, states himself “That’s what we provide students online, for free.”

• Beats Medical is a smartphone app that provides treatment cues that enables Parkinson’s patients to regain mobility. The company was founded by Ciara Clancy, who spoke at Inspirefest 2015, was named Laureate for Europeat the Cartier Women’s Initiative 2015 before winning Google’s Adopt A Start-up Programme.

• SoapBox Labs, founded by Dr Patricia Scanlon, enables children’s reading skills to be gauged using automated software-based. The company’s platform enables lessons to be personalized by adjusting the student’s learning path in real time, maintaining just the right degree of difficulty and no gaps in understanding.

• Little Vista (CEO Kieran Walkin) has created a tablet application specifically aimed at childcare practitioners. The application enables childcare practitioners to record meals, naps, developmental activities and photos in seconds. There is also a free Parent App that provides families and guardians with real-time updates and photos.

Given these five examples, it is clear that supporting young people to developing their programming ideas would be hugely beneficial for wider society.

Niamh Bushnell, the Start-up Commissioner for Dublin, will be speaking at this years Coolest Projects joint event, Launch’d. She has previously stated how she’s been amazed at the number and quality of start-ups in Ireland’s capital. Launch’d will serve as a platform for the participants of Coolest Projects to develop their projects into similarly high quality Tech start-ups.

 

Coolest Projects, with Launch’d aspires to validate Ireland as an international hub for developing inclusive technologies. This St. Patricks day, CoderDojo hopes all our supporters, mentors and ninjas feel empowered by the potential to be creators of technology, to grow a simple idea into a global movement!