ISEF 2023

2023 GRAND FINAL

Hosted in the impressive 1WDML Dublin Docklands, the ISEF Grand Final 2023 saw four young yet innovative entrepreneurs compete for the €10,000 grand prize. After careful deliberation by our panel of established entrepreneurs, it was Marion Cantillon’s creative edge with PitSeal that emerged as the overall winner.

Pitseal

Created by Marion Cantilon, PitSeal is an eco-friendly solution for silage covering with the aim to provide long term sustainability for the farmers and their families. Pitseal is a biofilm comprising of unique strains of seaweed and nutrients that form an airtight and waterproof film on top of the silage pit completely replacing the plastic covering and weight
Marion saw first hand the dangers of farming when her uncle slipped and fell on wet plastic, breaking his leg preventing him from practicing farming for some time. Accidents like this are common in the farming world and so as a safer alternative, both environmentally and socially, along came Pitseal…

Start Ups

Wonky Woolins

The Wonky Woolins is a family-orientated business envisioned by Chloe Gardiner and inspired by her granny’s wonky, knitted toys that were passed onto her. Having survived through six generations before her, Chloe felt she should replicate these high quality toys for others to enjoy. At the age of 15, with €50 in her back pocket and a crochet hook, Chloe created The Wonky Woolins enabling many families to experience the everlasting connection her toys have established between her family members with a quality that will ensure it will maintain for generations to come.
Chloe’s creativity saw her take home the Goodbody’s Sustainability Award!

UGC

‘User Generated Content’ is a marketing platform created by Emma and Orla Coffey, two sisters from Cork. Emma and Orla have plenty of entrepreneurial experience, Emma placed second in the ISEF 2022 competition when she pitched her sustainable activewear line: FinalBlend
With majority of Irish firms falling within the SME bracket, UGC mission is to ensure these firms marketing needs are represented and catered for.

Ecode

“Enabling circularity in fashion”
At a time of constant environmental threat, sustainability in fashion is pivotal. The ISEF competition saw Nathan Gaborieau, Emmett Lowry and Elise Vens step up to the challenge with their digital platform “Ecode.”Their product aims to turn consumption patterns into sustainable, responsible and circular.
“Ecode integrates the entire landscape of actors in circularity by connecting stakeholders, such as brands, consumers, recyclers and resellers. This allows us to count and qualify the state of clothes until the end of their lives.”

Gea

Gea is a reusable and smart alternative to traditional menstrual products
“We believe that products should adapt to the user, not the other way around. We also believe in a future where menstruation improves a woman's quality of life.” Gea is a perfect metaphor of identifying a problem and creating an effective solution. Paulina Gomez Vieco (Gea’s co-founder) shared with us that a prototype was in the work and we can’t wait to see this innovative product manifest into an everyday essential!

Martina Fitzgerald

CEO of Scale Ireland and Best Selling Author

Martina Fitzgerald has almost twenty years media experience and is the author of the best-selling and critically acclaimed book, ‘Madam Politician: The women at the table of Irish political power’, which was published in 2018. She has also undertaken research on US female politicians at Columbia University in New York and has worked as a volunteer in Laos in southeast Asia, delivering communications and empowerment courses to pre-university women. Currently she is the CEO of Scale Ireland; an independent, not-for-profit organisation which supports, represents and advocates on behalf of Ireland’s tech start-up and scale-up companies.

Andrew Murphy

Owner of Merleview Capital, Partner @ Erisberg

Having identified a gap in the market while completing a project for his MBA, Andrew Murphy set up Sláinte Healthcare in 2006. The company has gone on to become one of Europe’s fastest-growing healthcare technology companies with 130 employees and, as well as its headquarters in Ireland, it has offices in the Middle East, Brazil, Australia and Asia.

Dominik Leisi

Venture Associate at Atlantic Bridge VC

Dominik joined Atlantic Bridge as a Senior Investment Associate on the University Bridge Fund in 2022. Prior to joining Atlantic Bridge, Dominik was an Investment Manager in the Life Science Team of the University College London (UCL) Technology Fund which is managed by Albion Capital. Before joining the UCL Technology Fund, Dominik was responsible for the commercialisation of technologies that originated at the UCL Cancer Institute and the UCL GOSH Institute of Child Health. He has also held different R&D roles within the medical device and speciality pharmaceutical industries. Dominik holds a BSc in Life Sciences Technologies from the University of Northern Switzerland and an MSc in Innovation and Management from Imperial College Business School.

Business Leaders 2023

ISEF 2023

2023 GRAND FINAL

Start Ups

ISEF 2023 JUDGING PANEL

Martina Fitzgerald

Andrew Murphy

Dominik Leisi

Business Leaders 2023