Say it Loud and Say it Clear! Team Cognize wins Citi upStart Dragons Den

A joint initiative between National College of Ireland and Citi, the upStart programme supports the development of student start-up ideas as part of their master’s degrees. The annual programme attracts top postgraduate computing students from across the island of Ireland as well as internationally.

This year’s programme culminated in a Dragons Den event at Citi’s European headquarters in Dublin on June 24th. Ten teams of students from NCI pitched their business ideas during the Dragons Den event. Following a journey over the course of the academic year, which included exciting in-house hackathons, the strongest proposals progressed to this final stage.

Throughout the year, teams of master’s students were given the opportunity to work directly with highly skilled Citi mentors. With support from these mentors, the talented teams developed start-up business plans, which aim to leverage cutting-edge technology.

“I’m proud to see the commitment and talent of NCI students showcased through Citi upStart. Congratulations to the winning teams and well done to all who participated and worked hard to be here today. Thank you to Citi for facilitating the mentorship throughout the programme which plays an important role in shaping the next generation of technologists. I would also like to thank Mphasis for their collaboration, guidance, and continued support of this initiative.”
~ Dr Anu Sahni, Programme Director for the MSc in Data Analytics, AI for Business, and Knowledge Transfer Champion at National College of Ireland.

“Citi upStart demonstrates our ongoing commitment to innovation and the development of future entrepreneurial talent. The creativity and dedication shown by these students, supported by our mentors, underlines the importance of bridging academic ideas with real-world impact. We are proud to support a programme that helps empower the next generation.”
~ Davinia Conlan, Country Head for Citi Ireland.

At the Dragons Den event, each business plan was evaluated by a distinguished panel of industry experts against criteria measuring both originality and market potential. Following the presentations and a series of questions from the panel, three standout teams were selected as winners and awarded prizes.

At this year’s event, Mphasis joined lead sponsor Citi in awarding a prize to one of the winning teams. Mphasis, a global AI-led, platform-driven technology solutions provider focused on helping global enterprises modernise through AI, was a valuable addition to the judging panel, bringing further industry expertise to the evaluation process and supporting innovation on the day.

A highly competitive Dragons Den style pitch session eventually saw ‘Team Cognize’ win out. Cognize is an AI powered communication layer that makes communication more digestible. The system breaks down vague tasks or ambiguous messages in real time to give users the clarity and context they need to respond with confidence. The judges were impressed with the clarity of the idea and the appeal to users such as neurodivergent individuals and non-native speakers and indeed to all users who want clearer communication. The layer is capable of integration with all the main communication platforms. Team Cognize made up of NCI Masters students, Amit Gupta, Joe Loftus, Annie Milka, Seejal Killedar, Chetan Panchal and Sabhyata Kumari were delighted to seal the win.

The support of Citi and Mphasis plays a vital role in enhancing the student experience, strengthening the connection between industry and academia, and creating meaningful opportunities for students.

“Our long-standing partnership with Citi gives NCI students invaluable opportunities to develop their skills, work on real-world challenges and bring innovative ideas to life. Together, we are helping the next generation of technology talent make a meaningful difference in society.”
~ Professor Paul Stynes, Dean of NCI’s School of Computing

“At Mphasis, we are committed to supporting innovation and the development of future talent. The ideas showcased at Citi upStart demonstrate how emerging technologies, including AI, can be applied to real-world challenges. We are proud to support a programme that nurtures creativity and empowers the next generation of technologists.”
~ Rohit Jayachandran, Head of Banking & Financial Services, Mphasis

We would like to extend our congratulations to all the finalists who presented at the Citi upStart Dragons Den:

At National College of Ireland, we would like to congratulate not only this year’s awardees, but all finalists. Being selected as a finalist is a testament to their hard work, innovative thinking and ambition throughout the academic year as they collaborated with Citi mentors and built their professional networks.

We hope they are all immensely proud of their achievements. We are also delighted to confirm that the Citi upStart programme will return in 2027. National College of Ireland looks forward to continuing this strong partnership with Citi and to the exciting ideas and innovations that will emerge from this collaboration.