Date: 11.30am Wednesday March 19th

 Location: Front Square, Dublin Castle, Dame Street, Dublin 2.

 The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) is launching the USI Student Summit 2014 today (Wednesday, March 19th) at the front square of Dublin Castle.  Students will arrive at the front square in a military tank today for photo opportunities ahead of the main event in April, to signify that student entrepreneurs will be ‘invading’ Dublin Castle on April 8th.

On the evening of April 8th, student entrepreneurs and Ireland’s finest start-ups and innovative business entrepreneurs will converge on the Print Works Conference Centre, Dublin Castle for the USI Student Summit 2014.

At the USI Student Summit 2014 there will be:

  • 600+ students
  • 30+ Start-ups exhibiting
  • Key speakers
  • Workshops
  • Pitch Pit
  • Demonstrations

Central to the USI Student Summit 2014 theme is to create a sense of community among young student entrepreneurs in Ireland, where they can come and learn about how to start their trade, and listen to people who have been successful in their field and can give advice on making their ideas come to life.

At the Student Summit 2014, USI will host over 30 start-ups from all over the country, state advisory bodies to advise and direct the young entrepreneurs of tomorrow, inspirational speakers who will share their stories, empowering workshops and a pitch pit where ideas get pitched and tested.

Some of the companies taking part in the USI Student Summit 2014 are Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, Think House, Enterprise Ireland, Hays Recruitment and Ustart DCU. Key speakers include Niall Harbison (Founder of Simply Zesty), Richie Whelan (Founder of Popdeem), Sophie Morris (Founder of Kooky Dough), Caroline Downey (MD of Olympia & Ambassador) and Sharon McCooey (Director of Linkedln Ireland).

Amongst the Irish start-ups taking part in Student Summit 2014 are Popdeem, Buzzoo, Fonesense, Jobbio, Boozedoc, Inner Party, Dub Starts, Hot House, Tipple.me, OPSH, Dub Net, Socialmedia.ie, Tree House, Run Last Man.com, Createmedia.ie and City Hook.

USI President Joe O’Connor said:

“This event is the first of its kind and will provide an incredible opportunity for Irish student entrepreneurs to hear from inspirational speakers, learn from Ireland’s most innovative start-up companies, and network with entrepreneurs from all across the country.

We are proud to host an event dedicated to student enterprise in such a fantastic venue, and would encourage interested students to contact their Students’ Union as we expect tickets to be snapped up extremely quickly.”

Launch photographs will be circulated in the afternoon. For event and ticket information go to www.studentsummit.ie and follow @student_summit on Twitter.

For press enquiries contact USI Communications and Research Executive Grainne O Reilly on 087 6776636 or 01 9052100.