Euspen Talent Programme Finals hosted by I-Form
I-Form hosted the finals of the euspen Talent Programme, on the 10th of June 2024 at University College Dublin. The talent programme is part of the 24th European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology (euspen) International Conference & Exhibition which was held at UCD from June 10 to 14.
The euspen Talent Programme is an international competition designed to identify exceptional MSc and PhD students, with the potential to become future leaders in the field of precision engineering and nanotechnology.
The 2024 Talent Programme was organised in collaboration with Stryker, and focused on the development of an MPO (Multi-fiber Push On connector) plate design and the associated manufacturing process for the automated assembly and testing of the fiber optic connector performance.
Amongst this year’s competition finalists were candidates from Japan, Croatia, Denmark, Italy, the UK and Ireland. The top three teams received a bursary and complimentary conference attendance, as well as an opportunity to meet with researchers at Stryker's manufacturing facility in Co. Cork.
The final presentations were judged by Dónal Gildea (Stryker), Bruce McKee (Stryker), Prof Denis Dowling (I-Form Director), Prof Liam Blunt (Euspen President) and Dr Adriano Nicola Pilagati (Previous Competition Winner).
Professor Dowling said: “The level of innovation and thoroughness in each of the concepts was very impressive, particularly in addressing scalability and manufacturing challenges. Each team consisted of participants from different countries and they demonstrated excellent communication and collaboration skills to pull the ideas together.”