March 2025 – Congratulations to Cathal Walsh (CBC), Alannah Martin (Blackwater CS) and David Dumitrescu (CSN), who won the 2025 HighTechElec TY TechnoDen innovation competition for their idea & presentation of ‘Waste Wise’ – an auto-sorting bin to separate waste into the correct categories, increasing the amount of waste that can be recycled – at Tyndall National Institute.

The team came up with the idea while participating in the CEIA-Tyndall HighTechElec TY programme, which is a collaboration between Tyndall National Institute, UCC, MTU and CEIA member companies. 21 TY students from 17 schools across Cork, Kerry and Waterford participated in the 2025 programme. CEIA member companies who participated this year by hosting TY students for one day work experience in the high tech manufacturing sector included Boston Scientific, Horner APG, Dell Technologies, Moog, Qualcomm, Logitech, CloudCIX, Flex and Pilz Ireland.

Pictured left to right: TechnoDen judges Dr Kiang Wei Kho, Dr Rupa Ranjani Palanisamy and Dr Daisy Das (Tyndall National Institute researchers), and TechnoDen Winners Cathal Walsh (CBC, Sidney Hill), David Dumitrescu (CSN, Bishopstown) and Alannah Martin (Blackwater CS, Lismore).