15 April, 2019

CIT’s 33rd Cork Mechanical, Manufacturing and Biomedical Engineering Exhibition took place on Thursday April 11, in the Nexus Hall at the Bishopstown Campus.

The annual event is the largest and most comprehensive educational engineering innovation exhibition in Europe, featuring 250 stands. The theme of this year’s event was “Engineering the Future in Global Environmental Innovation”.

The exhibition serves as the primary showcase for undergraduate and postgraduate engineering student projects as well as industrial research projects. Attracting representatives from industry, business and academia, the exhibition promotes industrial and educational partnerships and has given rise to a myriad of collaborative projects stimulating graduate placement.

Niamh Savage, 4th year Biomedical Engineering student, spent her 3rd year industrial placement with Abbott’s Research and Development team in Clonmel. She returned to Abbott this year to complete her final year project, developing a new vascular vessel closure device to improve the coronary angioplasty process.

The product she has been working on with the R&D team will be brought to market in 2020, and Niamh will take up a full-time position with the R&D team in Abbott after her graduation this year.

Jaime Twomey, 4th year Mechanical and Process Engineering student, spent 6 months on placement with Dell EMC as a process intern during his 3rd year placement.

Jaime partnered with Dell EMC this year to complete his final year project ‘XPE Chassis Assembly Conveyor Process Dell EMC’, using process modelling to define the ideal feature process of the chassis assembly. Jaime said it was a fabulous experience. “I was working with a full team of engineers and a project planner as well as working with the supplier company.” 

Eveleen Clancy, 4th year Biomedical Engineering student, partnered with Enable Ireland to create a paintbrush gripping device for a nonverbal artist with cerebral palsy.

Eveleen designed two prototypes, both enabling the artist to hold the paintbrush independently. Working with an Enable Ireland occupational therapist who understood the client’s needs and gave Eveleen valuable input in to her designs.

4th year Mechanical and Process Engineering student Mark Devon, presented his novel design for a surf board fin. Impacts with surfboard fins can result in serious lacerations and injuries to surfers and Mark’s retracting FishFinTM is designed alleviate the incidence of these types of injuries.

Mark also discovered during testing that the drag from his prototype fin was less than that of a standard fin. Encouraged by lecturers and supervisors on the viability of his design, Mark is now considering taking his FishFinTM to market.

Exhibition organiser Professor Sean F O’Leary believes the current entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem in CIT, including CIT student start-up company internships, CIT Innovation Week and student prizes for innovation and entrepreneurship, has contributed to CIT student’s success on national and international stages.

This year’s Centre Piece Stands celebrated previous award winning exhibitors including MacGlasTM and StrydeTechTM.

The StrydeTechTM mobility enablement device, won several awards including Engineers Ireland Innovative Student Engineer of the Year 2018, and went on to scoop 2nd place in the prestigious Global Health Category of the University Start-up World Cup Finals 2018.

The MacGlasTM design team were recipients of College Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 at the Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneur of the Year Awards for their vision aid, designed to assist people with macular degeneration. The team were also Invited to exhibit at the influential Dubai Design Week Global Grad Show 2018.

The exhibition also offers 2nd level students who may be considering a career in engineering and science the opportunity to interact with students from varying disciplines. They can find out, first hand, what their experience has been like while in CIT and how their projects relate to their industrial experience.

The brochure detailing the stands at the 33rd Annual Cork Mechanical, Manufacturing & Biomedical Engineering Exhibition is available here.