Irish Examiner view: Young Scientist Exhibition showcases Irish talent

BT Young Scientist Exhibition is a valuable event

The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition has been running for 60 years. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos

The annual BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition has been going strong for almost 60 years and has expanded greatly from its first iteration, when there were just 230 participants in the Round Room of Dublin’s Mansion House.

This year, over 1,100 students will show their work in a wide variety of fields and the exhibition itself, which will occupy the halls of the RDS, will be visited by thousands of interested observers.

The success of this venture is laudable in its own right, as a valuable outlet for schoolchildren to test themselves and to get into the habit of working independently on their own projects. 

Over the years, it has showcased innovation in pure technology as well as developments which have led to small, start-up businesses run by students. 

This is the other side of the Young Scientist exhibition, that, alongside the work in laboratories, there are often parallel lessons learned by the students when it comes to marketing their projects to the general public.

The value of those lessons cannot be overstated, but there is a wider context to the exhibition as well. 

In terms of Ireland’s international reputation as a hub for innovation, or as a prospective location for high-tech companies, it showcases the country as a hive of entrepreneurial, creative thinkers, and researchers. 

The fact that the cohort bringing their projects to the exhibition will be entering the workforce in the coming years only underlines that image of enterprise and innovation for Ireland as a whole.

The country has changed enormously since the first exhibition back in 1965; its current success reflects the breadth of that change, which is only fitting given previous iterations were part of making that change.