Sneak Peak at Invent 2019 Awards Night

Posted on: 28 May 2021

10th October certainly was 10/10. The Invent 2019 final took place in the ICC Waterfront Hall, Belfast hosted by Catalyst Inc. The Invent competition was set up to help, promote and give golden opportunities for some of the top innovation talent of Northern Ireland, to let their voice be heard and gain recognition for some outstanding inventions.

The competition was so popular that it attracted over 100 entries this year, highlighting the significance of OBBI Solutions getting down to the final 12.

The selection process for the final was no walk in the park, each of the 12 finalists went through intense stages of pitching, presenting and questioning. A combination of many late nights, scripts and pitches ripped up and started from scratch, countless boardroom brain storms and plenty of middle of the night ‘light bulb moments’.

After some networking with Storm Troopers and Darth Vader (and some very confused faces), the night kicked off with one last 60 second pitch from each finalist followed by fantastic hospitality and some inspiring speeches from both young and well-established innovators. The night finished off with the winning announcements and OBBI Solutions was awarded Enterprise Software Company of the Year – with trending hashtags on Twitter of #OBI-WAN oh wait… #OBBIWON!

Gareth Macklin, Founding Director said, “Winning Enterprise Software Company of the Year in Invent 2019 is a significant achievement for our whole team, but it’s so much more than the award itself. Throughout each stage of the process, we have been forced to rethink our approach, to challenge ourselves and push through barriers to make the work that we thought was excellent, upgrade to ‘out of this world’. The mentoring from Catalyst and help along the way has been invaluable and it’s been an experience that has helped shape OBBI into what we are now and also give us the guidance to not only reach our goals but go above and beyond them.”

A night for all finalists and winners to be proud of, Catalyst and Invent provide a platform to gain exposure, connect with valuable contacts and get inspired from each other.

Congratulations to all winners on the night –

AGRI SCIENCE CropSafe – an AI and satellite-based farming solution

ELECTRONICS Signal Optimiser – a product designed to improve sound quality between an instrument and amplifier

LIFE & HEALTH SCIENCE Airbrio – arespiratory management system for asthma or COPD

ENGINEERING Concrete Jungle – a manufacturer of bio-receptive façade panels for the outside of buildings

CREATIVE MEDIA & CONSUMER INTERNET Personalcarer.co.uk – A platform for disabled persons or the elderly to find experienced carers in their area

ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE OBBI Solutions – an app that digitises business processes in HR, operations and health and safety