Eóin Tuohy, Founder of Sports Impact Technologies, a New Frontiers start-up based on TU Dublin’s Blanchardstown Campus, has used his experience in preparing medical equipment for Antarctic expeditions and developing novel lunar dust mitigation technologies with the European Astronaut Centre to develop products that aim to make unrecognised head impacts in sports a thing of the past.
Between five and ten percent of athletes will experience a concussion in any given sports season, which often go unreported and unnoticed leading to sportspeople experiencing long-term health implications.
Eóin’s start-up Sports Impact Technologies aims to limit this by developing sports wearables that detects head impacts during sports, an idea that impressed the judges of TU Dublin’s Battle of the Start-Ups: Pitch Perfect.
The competition saw Eóin compete against five other early-stage start-ups to win a €5,000 in cash plus a coveted space at one of the TU Dublin incubators for his business.
“We were delighted to have a huge number of entrepreneurial applicants of a very high standard this year,” said Louise Phelan, Chair of the judging panel. I congratulate Eoin on his strong performance and encourage the other finalists to use this unique opportunity for feedback to grow their ideas.”
The winning pitch showcased a small wearable sensor that sits behind the ear of the player and relays data about any head impact, so they can become treated before it becomes an issue. The technology can be used across all sports, for players of all ages and levels.
“This prize will go a really long way for us at this point in time for our business,” said Tuohy.
“I intend to use the money to develop my MVP [minimum viable product] to a stage where we can start piloting.”
“TU Dublin is pleased to host this event as part of local enterprise week with our partners in the Local Enterprise offices across the greater Dublin area,” said Thomas Stone, Vice President of Partnerships at TU Dublin.
“Local Enterprise Week provides an important platform to raise awareness of the facilitates, programmes and supports available to start-ups in Dublin, and also to run events like Pitch Perfect to promote and reward promising start-ups in the region. The calibre of finalists was exceptionally high, and we wish all of the finalists every success in the future.”
