Huawei Ireland winning STEM students travel to China for global competition
April 7, 2025: Huawei Ireland’s 2024 ‘Seeds for the Future’ winners start their visit to China to represent Ireland in the prestigious Seeds for the Future - Tech4Good global final.
Team Anaphero, comprising five students, Tiarnan O'Rourke, University College Dublin; Ciara O'Reilly, Dublin City University; Dylan Hussain, Technological University of Dublin; Luke O'Sullivan, University College Cork and Eoin Creavin, University College Dublin emerged as 2024 European Region champions in the 2024 edition of Seeds for the Future. Their innovative project focused on developing a wearable device that instantly alerts parents and caregivers when a child shows early signs of anaphylactic shock. Utilising sensors to detect allergic reaction symptoms, the device leverages 5G network and AI models for real-time analysis and connectivity.
Speaking at the opening ceremony in Beijing, Ireland’s Ambassador to China, Dr. Nicholas O'Brien said: “I congratulate Team Anaphero from Ireland for their wonderful achievement on becoming the Huawei Tech4Good European regional champions and reaching the global final in Beijing. Tiarnan O'Rourke, Ciara O'Reilly, Dylan Hussain, Luke O'Sullivan and Eoin Creavin have developed a truly impressive wearable medical device, a symbol of the creativity and innovation of young Irish people. I wish Team Anaphero the best of luck in the competition, and I hope they have a stimulating and productive visit here in China”.
From April 7 to 10, the students will attend Tech4Ggood Accelerator Camp which involve 10 hours of offline coaching and office hour mentoring sessions following the coaching. They will also experience Chinese culture and explore digital development in China. On April 11, they will pitch their project live to judges. If they win global #TOP3 or the people’s selection award, their trip will be extended so that they can visit Hangzhou and Shanghai, after being in Beijing and Shenzhen.
Team Anaphero student representation Ciara O’Reilly and Dublin City University student delivered remarks at the opening ceremony: “As we now look forward to the week ahead, we are filled with excitement – not only to explore a country rich in history and culture, but also to engage with some of the most advanced technological ecosystem in the world. We’re eager to learn explore, and be inspired by what we experience here.”
In addition, Damian Gornik, alumna from the 2023 edition of Seeds, is selected as the ‘Seeds Ambassador’ in 2025. He will also be travelling to China, joining the journey of culture and technology exploration.
Seeds for the Future is Huawei's globally-recognised Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) flagship programme, the longest-running CSR initiative across the world. Third-level students studying STEM subjects or Leaving Certificate students considering a third-level course in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) are eligible to apply. The aim of the programme is to develop local talent, share knowledge, increase ICT sector awareness & enthusiasm, and foster digital community building.
Speaking about the Tech4Good global competition, Baolin Liang, PR Manager, Huawei Ireland, said: “Since its inception in 2015, more than 280 students from Irish universities have benefited from the unique learning and culture experience of the European competition. The programmes that we are involved in – Seeds for the Future, and TECH4GOOD – demonstrate our commitment to nurturing and developing today’s students to think about the future of our society. We continue to invest in Ireland’s future ICT workforce, and we see this student opportunity as another way to help these students to enhance their capabilities as they continue their studies in STEM subjects. This year, for the Global competition, we are excited that we have such an inspiring team representing Ireland in an atmosphere of learning and development”.
For more information on Huawei’s Seeds for the Future and Tech4Good please visit: https://www.huawei.com/minisite/seeds-for-the-future/tech4good.html
ENDS
About Huawei Ireland
Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. With integrated solutions across four key domains – telecom networks, IT, smart devices, and cloud services – Huawei is committed to bringing digital to every person, home, and organisation for a fully connected, intelligent world. Huawei employs over 207,000 people in 170 countries across the globe.
Since its arrival in 2004, Huawei’s activities in Ireland have developed from supplying mobile phones, building Ireland’s first national fixed wireless network, providing fibre optic broadband technologies, to being at the forefront of the current 5G digital transformation. Huawei’s activities globally, and in Ireland, are underpinned by a core focus on R&D. Indeed, the EU ranks Huawei among the top five investors in R&D in the world3. Annually Huawei spends 10%-15% of its global sales revenue on R&D, in 2023 its total R&D spending reached €21.2 billion, representing 23.4% of total revenue.
In Ireland, Huawei has invested over €250 million in its Irish R&D efforts between 2019-2023. Along with the positive impact of Huawei’s R&D activities, Ireland’s economy derives significant economic benefits from Huawei’s operational expenditure and exchequer contributions, with a total annualised economic contribution of over €800 million and will contribute €4.5 billion in economic value to Ireland between now and 2030 according to a recent Amárach report. Huawei’s Irish operations employ 543 individuals and support the employment of a further 6,100 individuals through indirect and induced effects from its activities.
Huawei works with several Irish third-level institutions, including Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, TU Dublin, University of Limerick, University College Dublin, and University College Cork, funding vital Irish research into video, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing. The company also partners key Research Ireland centres such as Connect, Insight, Adapt and Lero.