Donegal student leads Sligo IT team in Microsoft competition win

A team of students from IT Sligo, led by a Donegal post graduate student have won the first prize in the lead category of the Microsoft Imagine Cup World Finals.
The Microsoft Imagine Cup is the world’s premier student technology competition, honoring student innovations that address global problems.
Aíne Conaghan is a Fáilte Ireland Scholarship postgraduate research student from Cappry, Ballybofey. She and her three colleagues, James McNamara, Calum Cawley and Matthew Padden designed a device that plugs into a car and monitors dangerous driving behavior and road conditions, providing instant feedback to both the driver and the car owner.
The device is intended  to change driving habits and reduce road deaths.
In a statement today, Enterprise and Innovation Minister Richard Bruton paid tribute to the performance of Aine and her colleagues.
Mr Bruton says if Ireland is to get out of the current economic crisis, we are going to have to encourage indigenous innovation in any way we can, and today’s news that a group of Irish students has won first place in one of the world’s most prestigious technology competitions is truly inspiring.