09 September, 2019

Cork Institute of Technology graduates & Ireland's Award Winning Stryde Tech Team were awarded First Place and Gold Medal at the Global Student Innovation Challenge held in August this year, in Canberra, Australia.

The team, under leader Muireann Hickey, and product advancement coordinator Kevin Hayes were competing against students from all over the world. The Global competition is run in conjunction with the Annual International Convention on Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology (i-CREATe) and focuses on devising technical solutions to improve the quality of living for the elderly and people with disabilities.

The team developed the mobility device to assist elderly people and others with mobility issues. The Stryde Tech mobility device helps people to get from a seated position independently, a feature absent from normal walking frames. The device handles lower to the user’s seated waist height and raise to provide helpful upward force while standing up.

Team Stryde Tech has previously received several national and Institute awards including Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneur of the Year, the Cruickshank Intellectual Property Attorneys Most Technically Innovative Product - National Award Winner, CIT Prize for Innovation - Best Concept Award Winner, and the Tim Sexton Memorial Award for Students of Outstanding Achievement.

The team also includes Cian O’Leary and Jonathan Mullane, who didn’t travel to Canberra. Muireann Hickey and Cian O'Leary are graduates of the BEng (Honours in Biomedical Engineering) and Kevin Hayes and Jonathan Mullane, are graduates of the BEng (Honours) in Mechanical Engineering.

Michael Loftus, Head of Faculty of Engineering & Science at CIT said, "CIT places a major emphasis on developing highly innovative engineers who are experts at developing products and systems that benefit society and industry. Stryde Tech has excelled in this context and achieved global recognition for the outstanding quality of the team's work. They are a credit to CIT, Cork, and Ireland."

CIT President, Dr Barry O'Connor congratulated Team Stryde Tech on their success on the global stage. He said, "This is further evidence of the strong focus of CIT Engineering programmes on applying high-level engineering design tools to enhance the quality of life in this case for the many, many people who rely on assistive technology such as walking frames to maintain their independence. The global recognition of these CIT Engineering graduates will expedite the uptake of their innovative product design for the betterment of the lives of thousands of walking frame users".