ESB and Web Summit begin search for Ireland’s best Start-Up €25,000 ESB Spark of Genius Award now open to entrepreneurs and inventors across the country

Now in its seventh year, the ESB Spark of Genius Award is the longest running competition of its kind in Ireland, offering unrivalled exposure to entrepreneurs and investors at Web Summit, the world’s fastest growing tech conference. The Spark of Genius Award has a strong track record of success with previous winners using the award as a launch pad to grow their companies with €20million in funding secured by winners since its inception in 2010.

The ESB Spark of Genius Award is open to high potential technology Start-Ups who have been in operation for less than three years and have received under €1 million in funding. Entrants will be judged on the uniqueness of their idea, their level of development to date, and their potential for future growth.

Launching this year’s competition, Paul Mulvaney, Director of Innovation at ESB, said:

“ESB is focused on exploring radical and disruptive ideas in the energy and tech space to help develop smart energy solutions for our customers in homes, businesses and across the community. ESB Spark of Genius is one of a number of ways that we work with start-ups to co-create these solutions. Partnering with Web Summit for the seventh year is a perfect fit for the award. We collaborate with cutting edge companies and are involved in start-up accelerator programmes, as well as hackathons, to drive innovation and support Ireland’s start-up community in the development of future energy solutions.”

Patrick Griffith, Head of Start-ups at Web Summit added: “We are looking forward to being involved with ESB Spark of Genius again this year. The standard of applicants over the last number of years has been extremely high and this year will be no different. It has been great to see the participants go from strength to strength over the years.” 

More than 60,000 people from over 170 countries will attend Web Summit this year in Lisbon. Keynote speakers include Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Expedia and Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel.