All participating students were prize winners in the 2025 BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) and selected to take part at the four-day bootcamp in Nova UCD to develop key business and innovation skills
Friday, 7 March: Conor O’Neill (17), Orla Buttimer (16), Dana Carney (15) and Toomas Donohoe (17) with their project TactAI have been announced as the winning group of the 2025 and 16th BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp, in collaboration with Nova UCD. The BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp was created by BT Ireland to give BTYSTE finalists an opportunity after the exhibition to further develop their project ideas under the guidance of alumni, BT Ireland mentors and UCD content experts.
The winning group project, titled TactAI is a humanoid robot aimed at replacing human dependency and incorporating machine learning in specific situations. This hardwire sensored robot can significantly reduce the number of injuries and fatalities in place of underwater divers who can work in challenging and dangerous environments.
Ashlee Keogh was also named ‘Best Individual’ for her project ‘MagClean’
In addition to TactAI’s win, Ashlee Keogh, sixth year student at Tallaght Community School, Dublin, has been named ‘Best Individual’ at the BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp 2025.
The BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp has been an extremely successful initiative since it was first introduced by BT Ireland under its custodianship of the Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (YSTE). Thirty students from seventeen schools in twelve counties across the island of Ireland were selected to participate at this year’s four-day bootcamp in Nova UCD. At the Bootcamp, students attended workshops on business development, marketing and commercialisation, and had the opportunity to hear and learn from BTYSTE alumni who have launched successful enterprises. On the final day, the students pitched their project to expert panel of judges.
Judges this year included Shay Walsh, Managing Director of BT Ireland, Dr Tony Scott, co-founder of the BTYSTE, Anne-Marie Turley, Head of Fintech, Finance & Cybersecurity at Enterprise Ireland, and Brian O’Donovan, Work and Technology Correspondent at RTÉ.
Following BT Ireland’s recent announcement that it is stepping down as organiser and sponsor of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE), this year’s Bootcamp is the last being delivered by the organisation.
Shay Walsh, Managing Director of BT Ireland, said, “We are very proud to have developed and hosted the BT Business Bootcamp for the past 16 years. It has been a significant part of our efforts to drive innovation in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) sectors. The Bootcamp provides BTYSTE finalists with further insight into pursuing a career in STEM. Business Bootcamp equips finalists at the exhibition with the skills and insights to encourage them to turn their projects into commercial enterprises.”
We wish all these students the best in their future endeavours. With this being the final Bootcamp delivered by BT Ireland, we are hugely thankful to all those who have been involved, and to the Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition Board for allowing us to be such an integral part of exhibition for quarter of a century.”
Pat Guiry, UCD Professor of Organic Chemistry and Chair of the Young Scientist Charitable Trust, added, “We are thrilled to host the 16th BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp at Nova UCD. Bootcamp which was developed by BT Ireland is just one of the initiatives that was developed during their custodianship of the Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (YSTE). While today is a joyful occasion, it is also bittersweet as we conclude YSTE’s journey with BT but the organisation’s legacy will endure.”
Since the BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp began, several participants have gone on to become successful entrepreneurs, including Protex AI, betterexaminations.ie, and Evervault.
For more information on the BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp, please visit www.btyoungscientist.com or follow @BTYSTE on Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, or Snapchat (username BTYSTE).
ENDS
Notes to editor:
For more information, please contact:
Amy Kennerk / Saoirse Whelan
Teneo
085 835 5264 / 087 954 3089
About BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition
The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is designed to raise schools’ engagement in the critical subjects of science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM). The Exhibition calls upon students aged 12-19 years from all over the island of Ireland to showcase innovative science and technology projects. In 2022, the Exhibition reached almost 8 million visitors around the world through its virtual portal. The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is supported by valued partners including the Department of Education, Analog Devices, Amgen, Stripe, and RTÉ. Learn more at www.btyoungscientist.com.
About BT Group
BT Group is the UK’s leading provider of fixed and mobile telecommunications and related secure digital products, solutions and services. We also provide managed telecommunications, security and network and IT infrastructure services to customers across 180 countries.
BT Group consists of three customer-facing units: Consumer serves individuals and families in the UK; Business covers companies and public services in the UK and internationally; Openreach is an independently governed, wholly owned subsidiary wholesaling fixed access infrastructure services to its customers – over 650 communications providers across the UK.
British Telecommunications plc is a wholly owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
For more information, visit www.bt.com/about.
