11 student teams competed at this year’s ENFUSE Finals by pitching to expert industry judges on the plan they produced to support a local enterprise or social enterprise. The 11 teams from Technological University Dublin (TUD), Dublin City University (DCU) or National College of Ireland (NCI) were shortlisted from 46 other teams that participated in ENFUSE. As part of their masters programme, each team supported a local enterprise in Dublin by sharing ideas, knowledge and creating a bespoke plan to help the enterprise innovate. The top 3 teams won specialist mentoring and training supports from the Local Enterprise Office Dublin City and supports from the Dublin Regional Skills Forum for their allocated enterprises along with prizes from Dublin Place Brand. The first place team will also now be named on the specially commissioned ENFUSE trophy which will be hosted by their university for the coming year.
ENFUSE 2022 – Top 3 teams were:
1st Place. Students: Teja Tomsic, Ross McClelland, Melisa Villagomez, Anurag Dasandhi, Leidy Ortiz, Oreoluwa Ogunnusi. Client Enterprise: The Rediscovery Centre. University/College: Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin). MSc Digital Marketing. Module: Digital Campaign Planning. Lecturer: Dr Róisín Vize.
2nd Place. Students: Sarah Ryan, Anais Moreira, Bayrem Elyounsi, Emma Grand, Sarah Constans. Client Enterprise: The Wellness Circle. University/College: Dublin City University (DCU). MSc Global Management (Digital Disruption). Module: Design Thinking & Creativity for Innovation. Lecturer: Dr Henrique Barros.
[Joint 3rd Place]
3rd Place. Students: Halil Semih Guven, Tevfik Furkan Ekici, Charls Roy Kallarackal, Billy Keenan. Client Enterprise: Pieman. University/College: Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin). MSc Business & Entrepreneurship. Module: Product and Market Development. Lecturer: Jennifer McDonnell.
3rd Place. Students: Samarth Dhawan, Rhutujit Paradkar, Souvik Maitra, Akshay Sayar, Rahul Badarinath. Client Enterprise: Ultrasound Ireland. University/College: National College of Ireland (NCI). MSc Data Analytics. Module: Data Mining and Machine Learning II. Lecturers: Dr Anu Sahni and Michael Bradford.
The Rediscovery Centre was supported by TU Dublin students Teja Tomsic, Ross McClelland, Melisa Villagomez, Anurag Dasandhi, Leidy Ortiz and Oreoluwa Ogunnusi who won first place at the finals. Highlighting the student’s contribution to the Rediscovery Centre, Steve O’Reilly, Circular Economy & Policy Project Manager: explained:
‘With relevance, ingenuity, creativity, and flair, the fantastic group of TU Dublin students guided by Dr. Roisin Vize devised an intelligent marketing campaign that translates a complex topic into something that will really resonate with Irish citizens. Working on the ENFUSE programme helped us to think outside the box and provided us with a framework for how to translate theory into publicity’.
Dr Róisín Vize, TU Dublin lecturer of the ENFUSE 2022 - 1st Place Student Team was delighted with the teams success. Highlighting the importance of students being able to apply their learning to real life scenarios, she stated:
‘The Enfuse programme is an exceptionally rewarding project for Universities and enterprises to be involved in, with tangible take-away’s for all involved. Having students work off a live client brief and consult regularly with a company allows them to develop and improve many practical industry related skills’.
Promoting the benefits to enterprises that participate and other supports, Greg Swift, Head of Enterprise and Economic Development, Dublin City Council explained:
‘ENFUSE allows businesses to see the benefits of hiring graduates to help accelerate their digital, export and green transition strategic capacity and they can avail of the GradStart programme provided by their Local Enterprise Office to support this business cost’.
Speaking at the ENFUSE Finals, Declan Hughes, Assistant Secretary General, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment said:
‘ENFUSE connects students and enterprises creating collaboration and synergies that benefit all participants. It enables enterprises to benefit from student research and analysis, enables students to apply their learning to real time business challenges and it enhances the enterprise ecosystem through improved networking, collaboration and knowledge exchange’.
Further Information
The ENFUSE Finals, was the culmination of this year’s ENFUSE programme which involved approximately 214 masters students that supported 46 local enterprises and social enterprises, across Dublin. ENFUSE is led by Dublin City Council and the Local Enterprise Office in collaboration with TU Dublin, Dublin City University and National College of Ireland and supported by Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER), Dublin Place Brand and the Dublin Regional Skills Forum (DRSF). It matches local enterprises and social enterprises with masters students who as part of a module, work in teams to directly apply their learning in a real life scenario.
Acknowledgements: In national recognition of the innovativeness and potential to scale, DCC was awarded Public Service Innovation Funding in 2020 from the DPER as part of the Our Public Service initiative. The funding was used to develop branding, communications and programme materials.
To find out more about ENFUSE, please visit:
https://www.localenterprise.ie/DublinCity/News/Press-Releases/ENFUSE%202022%20Open%20For%20Applications.html
