UCC’s graduate incubation programme is seeking ambitious founders with early-stage ideas, with director Eamon Curtin warning that delaying an application is one of the biggest mistakes aspiring entrepreneurs make.
Applications have opened for the latest intake of IGNITE, the graduate start-up incubation programme based at University College Cork, with programme director Eamon Curtin encouraging aspiring founders to apply before they believe their business idea is fully developed.
According to Curtin, many potential applicants rule themselves out because they think they need a more advanced business before approaching an incubation programme.
“You walk out owning exactly what you walked in with. We’re publicly and privately funded, our return is enterprises created in this region, not a stake in your cap table”
“The most common thing we hear is some version of ‘I’ll apply next time, when it’s further along,’” he says.
The reality, he argues, is that founders often spend months building products in isolation without validating whether there is a paying market for them.
“People imagine they need a prototype, a company registered, maybe a co-founder and a bit of revenue. What they actually do in those six months of waiting is build. Alone. And they build the thing they already had in their head, because there’s nobody in the room asking them questions. They come back a year later with a product, but no customer, and no closer to a business.”
All fired up
Founded in 2011, IGNITE is a joint initiative involving UCC, Bank of Ireland, Cork City Council, Cork County Council and the Local Enterprise Offices of Cork City, South Cork and North & West Cork.
Since its launch, the programme has worked with close to 250 founders across almost 200 start-up ideas. Businesses that have emerged from the programme include LegitFit, Trustap, Neurobell, Recruitroo and TrustDish.
In October 2025, IGNITE received a €1 million performance funding award from the Higher Education Authority in recognition of its contribution to national strategy and policy priorities.
Focus on customer problems
Curtin says the foundations of a successful start-up remain unchanged, regardless of sector or technology.
“A successful start-up isn’t about finding good science or good tech. It’s about the fit between a problem someone will pay to solve and a solution that actually works. Get out and talk to customers before you build.”
That philosophy was reflected in the programme’s recent Spring Showcase event, where 14 start-ups presented to investors and business leaders.
Carbery CogniMed, founded by David Hall, won the Best Business award for its work addressing administrative delays in clinical trial agreements. Target Alert Group, founded by Ruth Hendrick, received the Best Business Plan award for its school incident alerting system, while Dr Eliana da Silva Monteiro’s Love Better platform won Best Pitch.
“Three sectors, three completely different founders,” Curtin says. “What they shared was that each could tell you exactly whose problem they were solving.”
Founders retain full ownership
One of the distinguishing features of the programme is that IGNITE does not take an equity stake in participating businesses.
Curtin says that approach reflects the programme’s wider economic development mission.
“You walk out owning exactly what you walked in with. We’re publicly and privately funded, our return is enterprises created in this region, not a stake in your cap table.”
Participants receive supports valued at approximately €20,000, including €5,000 in seed funding, workshops covering customer discovery, financial projections and investor pitching, one-to-one mentoring, personal development coaching and hot-desk space at UCC’s Western Gateway Building.
Simple application process
The application process consists of a 60-second video, a CV and one reference.
“The word limits are deliberately short. If you can’t describe the problem in 150 words, that tells both of us something. And the video isn’t a screen test. We want to know why you’re the person who keeps going when it gets hard.”
IGNITE is open to graduates from any discipline and any third-level institution in Ireland who hold an NFQ Level 7 or higher qualification and graduated within the past two to three years.
Curtin’s advice to prospective applicants is straightforward.
“Apply. If the timing is genuinely wrong, talk to us anyway, we run several intakes a year. I’d much rather have the conversation now than find out in two years that you had a good idea and didn’t know we existed.”
Applications for the next IGNITE intake close at 12pm on Monday, 31 August. Applications can be submitted here
Top image: Eamon Curtin (inset) as entrepreneur pitches a start-up idea at an IGNITE showcase event at University College Cork. Applications are now open for the 2026 UCC graduate incubation programme
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