INVENT 2025: Annual Innovation Competition (Ireland)

Categories

• Creative Leisure:
  • This category celebrates new and exciting developments in entertainment, creativity, and recreation – innovations that contribute to defining their region’s growing reputation. Whether you’re reshaping film and television, revolutionising sports technology, redefining the music experience, innovating in the world of hobbies, or pushing the boundaries of fashion and design.
• Green Horizons:
  • Welcome to Green Horizons, where they celebrate efforts for a greener planet and showcase innovations that focus on environmental sustainability and climate solutions. If your idea aims to heal and preserve the Earth through green technology and practices like waste reduction, energy efficiency, or eco-friendly materials, this category is for you.
• Future Business:
  • Welcome to the Future Business category. Presenting solutions that could include transformative financial technology applications, robust cybersecurity solutions; an innovative approach to data management, or ground-breaking advancements in business robotics. They invite entries that demonstrates how their region is leading the way in shaping the future of business technology.
• BioBreakthroughs:
  • Welcome to the BioBreakthroughs category, dedicated to acknowledging pioneering work in life sciences. This category is the platform to showcase innovations that contribute to advancing their understanding of living organisms and improving the quality of life. If your innovation is reshaping the landscape of life sciences, demonstrating a positive impact on health or the environment, this category is tailored for you. Join them in highlighting innovations that make a difference in the world of life science.
• Living Well:
  • Welcome to the Living Well category, where they celebrate innovations that enhance wellbeing for individuals and societies alike. Whether it’s pioneering SportsTech, transformative mental health solutions, or lifestyle products fostering a healthier and happier existence, Living Well is the category for you. If your innovation centres around enhancing daily life and cultivating positive lifestyles, join them in showcasing innovations that are making an impact on the wellness of people and communities.
• Uncharted Idea:
  • Have you discovered a solution to a problem they didn’t even know existed yet? If your project ventures beyond the usual, and doesn’t neatly fit into other categories, then this category is for you, the ‘uncharted idea’.

Funding Information

• The overall winner of INVENT 2025 will receive a grand prize of £25,000. Additionally, each category winner will be awarded £5,000. The prize fund aims to recognise and support outstanding innovations across different categories.

Benefits

• Networking:
  • Access a quality network of influencers, peers, and industry experts to foster collaboration and growth.
• Validation:
  • Gain recognition and validation for your innovative ideas and projects.
• Funding:
  • Opportunity to secure a share of the prize fund to further develop and scale your innovation.
• Learning:
  • Access support and workshops to enhance your entrepreneurial skills and navigate the challenges of innovation.
• Exposure:
  • Showcase your innovation to a global audience, gaining high-profile visibility.

Eligibility Criteria

• Entrants may or may not have incorporated a company.
• Entrants must have no more than 5 paid employees.
• Founder(s) and Innovation Development must be based in Northern Ireland or County Donegal, Ireland. This will be determined based on the Council Area provided by the Entrant in the application form. The Organiser reserves the right to request proof of residence at any stage. Entrants must ensure that their innovation’s development is within the specified geographical areas to qualify for participation in the INVENT 2025 competition. Failure to provide satisfactory evidence of residence and/or location of Innovation Development may result in disqualification from the INVENT competition.
• Innovations which have previously qualified for the final round of INVENT and formerly named ‘£25K Awards’ are not eligible to apply.
• All individual Entrants must be aged 18 or over by the point of application deadline.
• Innovations must have a basic prototype:
  • Entrants must have at least developed a basic prototype for the innovation being entered into the competition. This prototype can be in digital or physical form.
  • They consider a prototype something which has been created to test an Entrant’s idea’s feasibility and/or relevance to the customer and provides reasonable proof that the innovation is beyond concept stage.
  • Innovations which do not have prototypes will not advance past shortlisting stage of the competition. Entrants will be expected to demonstrate how they have prototyped their innovation at Qualifying Round Stage. It is the responsibility of the Entrant to describe in the application form how the innovation has been prototyped.
  • It remains the decision of the Organiser if the prototype is suitable for the competition. The Organiser’s decision is final and no correspondence shall be entered into.

For more information, visit Catalyst.