St Fanahan's reached cup final for problem solving in UCC
During the final of the cup, which was held in UCC on Friday May 10, the students gave a powerpoint presentation to students and judges from AIB, UCC and multinational companies.
Fifth year students from St Fanahan's College, recently went up against 150 students from all over Munster in the final of the TRIZ Innovation Cup in UCC, winning an award on the day for the best solution to a problem presented to them.
Dr Tim Butler, Head of Science at St Fanahan's, explained that TRIZ is the Russian acronym for the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving. It was developed in the former USSR by Genrikh Altshuller in 1946 and today it is used by many leading corporations such as Samsung to enhance their global competitiveness and to develop strategies for the future of technology.
Dr John McSweeney from UCC and Dr Tim Butler at St Fanahan's College have been working with the students to help them to develop solutions to everyday problems. The TRIZ programme aims to show how systematic thinking and technical skills can be deployed to solve everyday problems and generate product ideas.
The course was delivered using techniques recommended by the Harvard College of Education postgraduate courses in Multiple Intelligence and Differential Instruction.
During the final of the cup, which was held in UCC on Friday May 10, the students gave a powerpoint presentation to students and judges from AIB, UCC and multinational companies. The team captain was Rebecca McGrath whose presentation wowed the judges and was nominated for an award on the day.
Other team members including Eoin Coughlan, Ria Burke, Corrina Rath and Andrew Gorey had to pitch their innovation idea to a panel of judges who quizzed them on their ideas which included a self medicating soother and a mobile phone app for monitoring children's health. The group won an award on the day for the best solution to a problem presented during the competition.
Speaking after the competition, Dr Butler said: “TRIZ is a unique, systematic approach for developing globally competitive innovations. At St Fanahan's College we are always trying to promote entrepreneurship and innovation and this programme will hopefully lead to future business innovators."
Published:
Friday 24th May 2:50pm
