Scott Hilland generates some innovation
In February of this year Scott was nominated by RHS to take part in a Northern Ireland wide Generation Innovation competition. After being successful in his application he was initially shortlisted to a panel of 30. Each of these individuals were competing against each other for one of six paid summer internships. The Internship Prize Fund was collaboration between the NI Science Park and two local entrepreneurs, Tom O’Gorman and Jim Finnegan.
Scott was again successful at this stage and was awarded a summer internship worth £2,000. He was also assigned a mentor and received 8 weeks of business coaching, including marketing, finance, legal and pitch training. During this time he was able to finalise his product which is a high quality car seat which can be accessed from both sides of a vehicle, as well as having adjustable leg and head supports.
The culmination of this process was a ‘pitch off’ between all 6 candidates at the Create:2015 conference yesterday with the winner taking home a prize of £10,000 and a further 12 months mentorship. Unfortunately Scott narrowly missed out on the top spot but he has gained a wealth of experience in the process. This has been a huge achievement by Scott given that some of his competitors are full time university students and we are very proud of him.
