21 hours ago
Saor Water takes top prize at Enterprise Ireland's 2025 Student Entrepreneur Awards
Saor Water has been named the overall winner of the 2025 Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneur Awards.
Ryan Ormonde and Jonathan Hoffman, from Saor Water, were named as the Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneurs of the Year at a ceremony in TUD Blanchardstown, Dublin, where they were presented with their prize by Kevin Sherry, Interim CEO, Enterprise Ireland.
Ten cutting-edge innovations which address a range of global challenges were shortlisted for the final of the 44th annual Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneur Awards, and these included cutting-edge medtech devices, sustainable solutions and pioneering sports tech focused innovations.
The awards are focused on supporting students to turn their smart ideas into commercial businesses, and aims to encourage and stimulate entrepreneurship by helping students take what are often their first steps towards commercial success.
This annual initiative, which invites applications from third-level student innovators, is co-sponsored by Cruickshank, Grant Thornton and the Local Enterprise Offices.
This year's overall winner, Saor Water, provides a bespoke canned water solution for brands who are seeking a sustainable alternative to plastic bottles. They offer custom-branded aluminium cans and a low-minimum order service, which includes design, compliance, and logistics, and they are already working with high-profile clients such as Mercedes-Benz and Sculpted by Aimee.
As the overall winners of this year's competition, Technological University Dublin students Ryan Ormonde and Jonathan Hoffman have won a €10,000 prize, as well as mentoring supports from Enterprise Ireland experts and advisors, focused on supporting them to develop their products and explore new market opportunities.
Other prizes presented at this year's ceremony, which was hosted in TUD on Friday, included;
The Cruickshank High Achieving Merit Award and €5,000 was presented to Max Crinion-Morgan for his innovation, RespÉire.
The Grant Thornton High Achieving Merit Award and €5,000 was presented to David Cashman for his company, The WellSchools Network.
The Local Enterprise Office High Achieving Merit Award and €5,000 was presented to Sean O'Sullivan for his product, Lion's Reign.
The Enterprise Ireland Academic Award, recognising the contribution of third-level project supervisor, was awarded to Dr Margaret Tynan from South East Technological University.
