Coder Dojo at UCD

The Irish non-for-profit movement promoting free IT coding clubs for young people, CoderDojo has reached University College Dublin.


The UCD Dojo was attended by children as young as five and six, who came with their parents to start to learn how to code, develop websites, apps, programs, games and more.

Hosted by the UCD Innovation Academy, CoderDojoUCD was set up and organised entirely by volunteers – one of the ‘codes’ of the CoderDojo movement.

From humble beginnings in a classroom in the Presentation Brothers College (PBC) School in Cork, CoderDojo now has Dojos in the United States, Slovenia, Russia and Japan.

It was founded by James Whelton who at 17 was the first person to crack the iPodNano. He set up a computer club in his own school in 2011 and shortly after finishing his Leaving Certificate he teamed up with entrepreneur and philanthropist, Bill Liao.

For more:  www.coderdojo.com

According to CoderDojo, members “meet like-minded people, show off what they have been working on, pass on what they know, and generally learn that it is cool to be clever and to share.”

CoderDojoUCD hosted by UCD Innovation Academy took place at University College Dublin on 30th March 2012.

For details on forthcoming CoderDojoUCD sessions see: www.coderdojo.com/ucd-dublin

Semi-conductors to Culturemobs – ‘The Pitch’ gets creative!

Friday March 16th saw Innovation Academy students from TCD and UCD deliver at “The Pitch” presentation at the end of module one Creative Thinking & Innovation Teams pitched their solutions to host organisations an in an effort to identify opportunities and demonstrate real solutions. In attendance were MD’s and founders from host organisations such as Ciaran Conell (DecaWave), Dr. Catherine Morris (TCD Arts Initiative), Murna Lappin (Enterprise Ireland) and Dr. Barry MacMahon (Tallaght Hospital). Host organisations engaged with the Innovaiton Academy students on a range of challenging issues such as exploring value in market research and investigating new applications for the advanced technology chip, Sensor1. Throughout the two weeks, they worked closely with these organisations to achieve specific goals. The project teams were not only interdisciplinary but also muticultural students from Germany, Portugal, Poland, UK, Italy and Austria bringing great experience to the table. The innovation projects are a rich team-based exercise that foster creativity and innovation. While students investigated ways in which their backgrounds could be relevant to their assigned projects, they were also encouraged to explore approaches outside of their chosen discipline. In doing this, students encounter challenges, overcome these challenges, and as a result discover new methods of problem solving and idea generation. Each team put forward creative solutions and recommendations to their host organisation. Host organisaions included Decawave, Enterprise Ireland, Trinity Arts Initiative, and Tallaght Hospital. This collaboration sees over 36 other Innovation Projects completed by over 100 PhD students currently enrolled in the Certificate in Innovation and Entreprenship at the Academy. Four multidiciplinary teams presented on six innovation projects provided by a range of private, public and non-profit organisations. Students work with the following host organisations: 1. Decawave - branching out into new technology. 2. Enterprise Ireland - Value making in Market Research - Market Research Centre (MRC) 3. Trinity Arts Initiative - Cultivating cultural soul in students 4. Tallaght Hospital - EndoeXcite: User Driven Design of a Device for Measurement of Non-cardiac Chest Pain

Innovation Academy students take competition by storm! 4 out of 8 projects shortlisted are Innovation Academy students...

Congratulations to all Innovation Academy students shortlisted for the Trinity Small Changes, Big Difference competition, an initiative that supports a variety of great projects Trinity students are involved in; both in and outside the College. Four out of the eight projects shortlisted are IA students. Well done guys and good luck!. Eileen Burke Diskin, Botany (Biodiversity Marketing). Joanne MacMahon, Engineering (Solar Water Disinfection Project). Caroline Ryan, Veterinary – Building a "crush" at Rwanda's only veterinary teaching institute. John Frewen, Medicine – Ethnic Hoods The video with the most votes will receive €5,000 to support their project. Voting is open to registered staff, students and alumni of the College and will close on Saturday 25th February at midnight. You will only be allowed vote once a day. Prize winners will be announced on the 29th of February. Show your support and get voting!

Bill Liao to talk at Innovation Academy

Tuesday 17 January at 15.00. Innovation Academy at Trinity, 3 Foster Place. Diplomat, investor, entrepreneur, business mentor, speaker, philanthropist and author, Bill Liao co-founded the business social network service XING and is a venture partner at SOS Ventures, a global venture capital firm and investment management firm. Bill is a special diplomatic envoy for St Kitts and Nevis for sustainable development and the environment. He is also the founder of WeForest.org, an international not-for-profit organization combating global warming in the most natural way possible by sustainably and holistically reforesting previously degraded land - the organisation is approaching planting it's millionth tree. Along with James Whelton, Bill is also the Co-Founder of the Coder Dojo movement to assist young people to learn how to program. Bill is dedicated to the vision that business and enterprise, both commercial and social, conducted fairly and with respect for the environment, can and will create a better environment for work, life and the world that we all share. This vision is captured in his book: Stone Soup; a Secret Recipe for Making Something from Nothing. Additionally, Bill is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars speaking on social media and networking, entrepreneurship, how to make something from nothing, global warming and sustainability and development. Events he has spoken at include TED at Long Beach California, The Globe Forum in Stockholm Sweden, The London School of Economics and many others.

From Digitalisation to Diagnostics – the Innovation Academy students get creative!

On Friday 2 December, 20 PhD students from both TCD and UCD pitched their Innovation projects at the Academy.

Click to read more ...

Innovation Academy Pitch this Friday (2nd December)

Teams That Have Fun Get More Done!

The Innovation Academy @UCD is hosting a day of FREE activities for Staff, Postdocs and Postgrads of UCD and our partner institutions.

Information on the day's activities is below, so please register your interest in activities (specifically for the team based challenges) HERE.

For any further information on the day please contact Lisa Hogan on (01) 716 4012 or lisa.hogan@ucd.ie

Academy students scholarship winners to Falling walls conference

Congratulations to Christine Power, a Trinity PhD in Engineering/Business, and Eileen Diskin, a Trinity PhD student in Botany, who both won scholarships to Falling Walls in Berlin on the 8th November. Christine and Eileen, along with 99 other researchers and entrepreneurs will present their breakthrough in 3 minutes (Academy style!!). The Falling Walls conference is an annual global gathering of forward-thinking individuals from 75 countries. Each year, 20 of the world’s leading scientists are invited to Berlin to present their current breakthrough research. Congratulations to Christine and Eileen, from everyone at the Academy!

Jim Stikeleather Dell - 'Innovation comes from change'

Change in form of government regulation as well as technological change was just one of many points made by Jim Stikeleather, the Chief Innovation Officer at Dell, during his workshop at the Innovation Academy in Foster Place.

Click to read more ...

Innovation Academy - Talk with Jim Stikeleather Chief Innovation Officer, Dell

We are delighted to announce that Jim Stikeleather Chief Innovation Officer at Dell is joining us at the Innovation Academy for a talk with students, next Tuesday 20th September at 16.30 in Foster Place.

Click to read more ...