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Follow on Google News | A RendezVu with Entrepreneurial SuccessRendezVu, an e-learning venture located in NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at University College Dublin, has won the overall 2009 David Manley Emerging Entrepreneur Award.
By: NovaUCD There is currently no convenient way for most students learning languages to practise their language skills other than travelling to foreign destinations which can be expensive and impractical. To address this issue in the learning environment RendezVu has developed a next generation learning platform to provide immersive education for languages and other subjects using virtual world and gaming technologies. RendezVu was co-founded in 2008 by Paul Groarke and Garrett Hussey, both ex-Baltimore Technologies employees, and the company was the overall winner of NovaUCD's 2008 Campus Company Development Programme which assists entrepreneurs in bringing their innovative ideas from intellectual concepts to fully-developed and sound commercial business enterprises. The 2009 David Manley Emerging Entrepreneur Awards were presented at a ceremony in Dublin by the Irish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan TD and Dr Chris Horn, co-founder and former CEO, Iona Technologies. The aim of the Awards is to nurture and recognise the enterprising spirit in Business, the Arts and in Social/Community. On winning the Award RendezVu will receive €10,000 in cash and over €100,000 worth of mentoring and consultancy services from a variety of blue chip companies. Speaking at the ceremony, Mary Coughlan TD said, “I cannot overstress the importance of entrepreneurship, particularly in today's economy. An active entrepreneurial sector can continue to assist Ireland in facing the challenge to sustain growth, deepen competitive advantage in a knowledge economy and strengthen the enterprise base. It can also make a significant contribution to creating vibrant regions and to achieving greater social inclusion." On winning the Award, Paul Groarke, co-founder and CEO, RendezVu said, “The number of people learning English is expected to top 2 billion in the next 10 years. Research shows that these students suffer from having no way to regularly practice, particularly coming up to oral exams. Both oral and listening-comprehension accounts for 50% of language exams at present and there aren’t enough English tutors in the world to cater for all the students who want to learn English - so we realised that the solution had to be automated.” By ‘immersing’ The two runners-up this year’s award were Krystian Fikert of The PPD Psychological Centre and Jennifer Jennings and Phillip McMahon of ThisIsPopBaby. The David Manley Award was established by a group of David Manley’s friends in the Dublin Chamber of Commerce to honour his contribution to, encouragement and mentoring of SMEs during his short life time. David had been President of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce in 2000. The Friends of David Manley Committee features high profile Irish business people including Clive Brownlee, Frank Flannery, Alfie Kane, John McGuire, David Pierce and Peter Webster. Previous winners of the Award are SwifTXT (2003), Moving Media (2004), Innerworkings (2005), Emergent Events (2006), EirGen Pharma (2007) and Camara (2008). ENDS 22 January 2010 For further information contact Micéal Whelan, NovaUCD, e: miceal.whelan@ # # # NovaUCD is University College Dublin’s Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre. NovaUCD is responsible for the commercialisation of intellectual property arising from UCD research and for the development of co-operation with the industry and business communities. NovaUCD as a purpose-built incubation centre also nurtures new technology and knowledge-intensive enterprises. Twenty-four knowledge-intensive companies, including RendezVu, are currently located in NovaUCD. NovaUCD has been funded through a unique public-private partnership that includes AIB Bank, Arthur Cox, Deloitte, Enterprise Ireland, Ericsson, Goodbody Stockbrokers, UCD and Xilinx. www.ucd.ie/nova End
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