AN innovative medical device developed by Munster Technological University (MTU) students has won the top prize of €4,000 in the university’s Prize for Innovation competition.

The Prize for Innovation Showcase and Awards Ceremony 2023 was held recently in the university’s Nexus Centre as part of Innovation and Enterprise Month, which takes place annually throughout the month of March.

The popular student competition awards cash prizes to budding student entrepreneurs whose inventions and business ideas are judged to be the most creative, novel, innovative, and likely to succeed in the marketplace.

The competition is sponsored by the Cork and Kerry Local Enterprise Offices who are strong supporters of student entrepreneurship at MTU.

A total of 57 teams and over 350 students competed across MTU’s six campuses in Cork and Kerry.

The top prize of €4,000 and coveted title of MTU Entrepreneur of the Year was awarded to a multi-disciplinary team of third-year Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering students from MTU’s Bishopstown Campus for their device, SteadiFeed.

SteadiFeed is a Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastronomy (PEG) feeding tube that incorporates a novel system that prevents the feeding tube from being expelled from the stomach due to a build-up of excess pressure, an occurrence that affects approximately 13% of people using such systems.

The Best Concept award and €1,500 was won by a multi-disciplinary team of third-year Sustainable Energy Engineering and Chemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering students for their innovative idea, Stop-a-Pot, which aims to decrease the fatality rates on pot fishing vessels, a key area of concern for fishermen.

Regional programme manager for student entrepreneurship at MTU, Carole O’Leary, said:

“We wish all the winning students who will be going on to represent MTU at the All-Ireland Student Enterprise Awards the very best of luck and we look forward to supporting them along their entrepreneurial journeys.”