Huawei Ireland Team Achieves Top 3 Global Ranking at Seeds for the Future 2024 in China
April 14, 2025: Huawei Ireland’s 2024 ‘Seeds for the Future’ winners have finished in the Global TOP3 in the prestigious Seeds for the Future - Tech4Good global final held in China.
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 after the announcement of the results at Huawei’s HQ in Shenzhen, Team Anaphero student representative Ciara O’Reilly and Dublin City University student said: “We are beyond thrilled to be honoured in this way and to win with this project. The team is incredibly grateful to Huawei for giving us this opportunity to visit China and compete on the global stage. We have had an incredible few days already and we are now looking forward to exploring more of this country which is rich in history and culture. We are also looking forward to continuing the development of our project with the support of Huawei and the start-up ecosystem they have given us access to.”
The team’s journey to the global competition included attending the Tech4Good Accelerator Camp from April 7 to 10, which provided 10 hours of offline coaching and mentoring. On April 11, they pitched their innovative project live, securing their spot in the Global TOP 3. Team Anaphero also won the People’s Selection Award, reflecting the widespread appeal and importance of their project.
Speaking about the Tech4Good global competition, Baolin Liang, PR Manager, Huawei Ireland, said: “We are so happy for Team Anaphero and their success in this competition. Seeds for the Future has, since its inception in 2015, benefited more than 280 students from Irish universities through the unique learning and culture experience of the European competition. And now we carried this success through to the global competition.
“The programmes in which we are involved – 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 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 had such an inspiring team representing Ireland in an atmosphere of learning and development”.
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.
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
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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.