The ESB Inter-Colleges Challenge 2018 took place in the Irish Management Institute, Sandyford, Dublin on the 1st and 2nd of November. Eleven teams from Universities and Institutes of Technology across the Country took part this year. The ESB Inter-Colleges Challenge is a fast-paced event that aims to test a full range of engineering, financial and team working skills. The event is designed to encourage teams to apply their knowledge to develop innovative, creative and commercially focused solutions to real life challenges.
The WIT team was selected from competitors who took part in an internal competition on the 9th October and was made up of Aidan Tattan (Year 2 Marketing & Digital Media), Kevin Fitzgerald (Year 2 Sustainable Energy Engineering), Daniel Payne (Year 3 Electrical Engineering) and John Frister (Year 2 Sustainable Energy Engineering). The students put in approximately 40 hours working together with their mentors Colm Tynan, David Williams & Andrea Bourke preparing for the competition.
This year teams at the finals in Dublin were asked to propose ideas to “Enable the Low Carbon Citizen”. The WIT team proposed an idea to help tackle the current housing crisis in Ireland, by using their passive/smart building design. The project had to have an overview, design, full costing and a marketing and roll-out plan. The work the WIT team produced was to an exemplary standard and the judges were extremely impressed by their innovative ideas, presentation skills and team-work.
The WIT team were narrowly defeated in the group stages by the overall winner of the national competition who will represent Ireland at an international event in Canada. However, the WIT team received the prestigious award of Best Team-Work, finishing ahead of many of the top Universities in Ireland. The trophy was presented to the WIT team by the Minister of State for Higher Education Mary Mitchell-O’Connor T.D.
This was a tremendous result for this young WIT team, who incidentally are all still eligible to take part again next year so watch this space!! The students and their mentors are to be complimented for the commitment they made to this year’s competition.
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SETU Waterford, Cork Road, Waterford City, 
