Rosses Community School students win the European Innovation Award

Four enterprising students from Rosses Community School have won the prestigious Euronext Blue Innovation Award 2023.

The competition is under the umbrella of the Blue Challenge, Euronext's entrepreneurship education programme launched in partnership with JA Europe and locally between Euronext Dublin and Junior Achievement Ireland.

The student entrepreneurs invented a seaweed-based fertiliser for their new company Neptune Seafeed.

Four enterprising students Darragh Davidson, Dylan Doherty, Conor Mc Bride and Louie Mort with the guidance of their teacher Deirdre O’Reilly and a mentor from Euronext Dublin, Samantha Ryan invented a seaweed-based fertiliser for their new company Neptune Seafeed.

Having brought their product to market in recent months, the business team won the Ireland National Final late last month, where they competed against other blue economy mini companies from second-level schools around Ireland.

The exciting event was hosted by Euronext on the original trading floor of the Irish Stock Exchange. 

Then on Wednesday, the team from Rosses Community School participated in the European Final live online event. Student entrepreneurs from Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Portugal, The Netherlands and UK presented their Blue Economy business projects and answered questions from the judges.

Neptune Seafeed was announced as the winner based on the highest scores in business model, innovation, a working solution and financial literacy skills.

Speaking after the win, teacher Deirdre O’Reilly said: “I’m delighted for the team. They have worked very hard, in all weathers, to bring their product to market. The team has enjoyed the support of local garden centres, sports clubs and golf courses so far and they are very keen to continue to grow their business. It’s great to see their hard work paying off.”

Reflecting on the students’ experiences in recent weeks, Helen Raftery CEO Junior Achievement Ireland commented: “Partnering with Euronext allowed us to raise awareness of the Blue Economy with the support of our participating schools.

“The opportunity to work on a business project with such an important focus was motivating for the students, while getting the chance to build their team working skills and confidence in presenting in front of a large audience will stand to all the young participants. Having Ireland take the overall prize is a wonderful bonus! Congrats to all the teachers, students and mentors.”