The MTU Innovation Challenge 2025 has once again demonstrated the transformative power of student-led innovation, as interdisciplinary teams from across the globe came together to tackle real-world challenges posed by local, regional, and international organisations. 

Danylo Treshchov; secondnd-year MTU Software Development; Caren Karamagi, third-year MTU Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering; Hiswill Agaba, first-year MTU Mechanical Engineering, with their innovative design for a paediatric syringe driver lockbox for Cork University Hospital as part of the MTU Innovation Challenge 2025.

Over the course of the past eight weeks, 11 teams of students from across Munster Technological University’s six campuses in Cork and Kerry collaborated with their peers from Ud'A University in Italy, Murang’a University of Technology in Kenya, the University of Skövde in Sweden, and the University of Crete in Greece.

Expert mentoring

Together, they engaged in solving a diverse range of innovation challenges supported by expert mentoring and training in design thinking and stakeholder engagement. Each team worked closely with real-world organisations to develop creative, practical solutions to problems currently affecting those organisations. The teams were supported by a group of volunteer mentors from across MTU without whom the challenge would not be possible.

One of the winning MTU student teams presenting their solution – a redesign of the ‘SunRider’ system, a solar powered irrigation machine designed to help low-income farmers in Kenya – for the SowPrecise project at the MTU Innovation Challenge 2025 Pitch Day, MTU Bishopstown Campus. 

This year’s participating organisations come from a wide variety of sectors including healthcare, agriculture, assistive technology, AI, and nonprofit services. Challenges ranged from implementing AI solutions for business process automation, to designing accessible healthcare devices, to improving sustainable farming tools and community engagement platforms. 

Students tackled projects including the development of an AI-powered supply chain tool for tech firm Aspen Grove, the design of a paediatric syringe driver lockbox for Cork University Hospital, and a reimagined neck support brace for Motor Neurone patients at Marymount Hospice.

In the non-profit and community space, students designed an interactive app for Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind to engage users in a service dog’s journey, contributed to a digital portal for clients at the Crann Centre, and explored improvements to solar-powered irrigation systems and data platforms with Kenyan start-up SowPrecise.

Orlaith Leo, senior physiotherapist, Marymount Hospice with MTU students, Mark O’Connor (mechanical engineering) and James O’Mullane (biomedical engineering), whose team was one of the winners of the MTU Innovation Challenge 2025.

Carole O’Leary, who spearheads this initiative at MTU, said: “These projects are not hypothetical scenarios, these are real issues facing organisations right now. What’s remarkable is how our students rise to meet these complex challenges with such creativity, empathy, and professionalism. The benefits are two-fold: the organisations gain fresh perspectives and potential solutions, while students gain hands-on experience and the confidence to innovate in the real world.” 

To mark their achievements, two standout teams were each awarded a €1,000 prize for their innovative and impactful solutions: Team Marymount 1 and Team SowPrecise 1. All students participating in the challenge received a Digital Badge in recognition of their engagement, collaboration, and contribution.

From a stakeholder perspective, the benefits were evident. “The MTU Innovation Challenge has been such a highlight for me this year, and so exciting and rewarding to work with the students at MTU,” said Orlaith Leo, Leo, senior physiotherapist, Marymount Hospice. 

“To put my clinical head together with their creative minds has been so valuable, and they’ve come up with some brilliant ideas I could never have imagined.”

Gemma Leo, business support and project manager at the Crann Centre, shared similar praise: “The apps that we saw were absolutely beautiful - so a massive congratulations to the students. I can totally see that if we can get them built, our clients would use them.”

Most academically diverse group to date

The 2025 challenge welcomed the most academically diverse group to date, with participation from both undergraduate and postgraduate students across a wide range of disciplines. These included programmes in mechanical and biomedical engineering; software development; computing; creative digital media; animation and visual effects; business information systems; international business; marketing; economics; data science and analytics; AI; user experience and service design; electrical and electronics engineering; eco-inclusive design; and cognitive neuroscience, among others.

Gemma Leo, far right, business support and project manager at the Crann Centre, with MTU students, L-R: Tetiana Neliepova, Mascha Blenn, Wei Chen, John O’Brien, and Sophie Coughlan at the MTU Innovation Challenge 2025.

Hiswill Agaba, a first-year mechanical engineering student at MTU’s Kerry Campus who was working on a solution for the Cork University Hospital Challenge, said: “The most rewarding aspect has been the experience I gained and the knowledge I picked up along the way. Working with people from different backgrounds opened my eyes to how others think. Everyone has great ideas and unique perspective.” 

Mascha Blenn, a third-year visual communications student at MTU’s Bishopstown Campus, whose team tackled the Crann Centre App Challenge, said: “I think it was amazing working with such a diverse group of people just because we had so many different impacts from different teams - business, design, animation - and that really helped to enhance our project.”

As the MTU Innovation Challenge, now in its seventh year, continues to evolve and grow, it remains a powerful platform for students to develop real-world skills, build global networks, and create meaningful change, while offering participating organisations fresh thinking and innovative solutions that can make a real difference.

For further information on innovation and enterprise at MTU, see https://www.mtu.ie/partner-with-us/entrepreneurship/