b"THE IRELAND FUNDS BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITIONIn June of 2019, after six weeks of rigorous mentorship at NDRCsThird runner up, SeamlessCARE supports the continuity of care start-up hub in Dublin, ten teams took part in the Business Plan Com- for people with intellectual disability and complex needs. Via their petition showcase at Ormeau Baths in Belfast where they pitchedplatform,carerscantakephotographs,recordvideosandmake their ideas and fielded questions from the panel of stellar judges. notes to communicate the needs and preferences of each individual. Lily Devices, led by NUI Galway student Aaron Hannon, won theUnique data analytics provides insights into patterns of care and top prize of 15,000 for their product that aims to prevent hair losstranslates the sounds made by non-verbal people so that every care during chemotherapy using a unique headband device which offersprovider can understand their communications. patients a comfortable, dignified and portable treatment device forFor this most recent competition, The Ireland Funds partnered the prevention of hair loss during chemotherapy. withStPatricksMentalHealthServices(SPMHS)toawarda TheIrelandFundsBusinessPlanCompetitionhasbeenaspecial prize of 5,000 to kick start a mental health-focused business fantastic opportunity for us to build our customer discovery skillsplan. Auxilio scooped the prize for their app that provides between-and truly understand the problem we are working on, said Aaronsession support to clients who are currently attending a therapist for Hannon. Over the course of the program, we radically redefined ourpsychological difficulties. This easy to use tool complements struc-strategy for market access having understood our customers in a wholetured therapeutic interventions during moments of distress. new light. We now feel that, having been through The Ireland FundsThe quality of candidates this year was second to none, said BusinessPlanCompetitionprocess,weareinamuchstrongerDirector Ireland, The Ireland Funds, Caitriona Fottrell. When the positiontoaccelerateourtechnicaldevelopmentanddelivercompetitionsfounderBillMcKiernanlaunchedthiscompetition maximum patient impact when we get to market.eight years ago, none of us anticipated how vital it would become Second runner up this year was NearBy. Team members, Meriminsupportingambitiousyoungentrepreneurstokickstarttheir Dzaferagic, Irene Macaluso, Conor Sexton were awarded 7,000 forbusiness plans. We are also incredibly proud of our new partner-their product, which helps telecom operators optimize the networkship with SPMHS, as this highlights the growth of the competition configuration by using smart, automated and adaptive optimizationand we hope to welcome new collaborations and partnerships as we approaches.continue to evolve.AUXILIO:The winners of the Mental Health Innovation Award with Orla Gogarty and Ronan Devins from St Patrick's Mental Health Servicesconnect 201850"