AN IRISH team of four students from IT Sligo has captured the overall trophy cup and a $25,000 (€17,650) cash award in the world’s largest student technology competition, Microsoft’s Imagine Cup, in New York.

The students saw off teams from China, Romania, New Zealand, Jordan and the US to take first place for their project in software design, which is the centrepiece category of the Imagine Cup and the event’s top prize.

They created a small device that plugs into the diagnostics port on the dashboard of a car and monitors the driver, beeping if the car is driven in an unsafe way or to warn of a dangerous road.

The team – students Matthew Padden, Áine Conaghan, Calum Crawley and James McNamara, led by academic mentor Pádraig Harte – said the device could help lower the rate of road traffic accidents and deaths, which cost the global economy more than $520 billion annually and is the leading cause of death after HIV-Aids for young people aged 14-25.

“It’s amazing. It’s great to see all this hard work pay off,” said McNamara, a software design student who began developing the project with the team last September.

“We came here to New York for one reason – to win,” said Conaghan, who is completing a PhD in sustainable tourism and has a business degree.

Winning is no easy task: the competition is gruelling, and nearly three-quarters of finalists were ejected in the first competition round on Saturday.

Team Hermes won the Irish national Imagine Cup event in spring to earn the chance to represent Ireland at the finals. Here, they were up against 67 teams from around the world in their category.

The students had to design a project that addressed this year’s competition theme of “Imagine a world in which technology helps solve the toughest problems”.

The projects also had to fit with the United Nations Millennium Goals for tackling leading world problems such as poverty, education and health, and have a business and development plan.

The Sligo four passed through two initial competition rounds during the week in New York, to end up as one of the six finalist teams. Finalists then had to make a presentation to a tough panel of judges, who included chief information and technology officers from major US companies such as Goldman Sachs.

The team’s academic mentor, IT Sligo computing lecturer Pádraig Harte said: “This team was a joy to work with.”

Each student came from different areas of study and had individual strengths, “but the sum of the parts was worth so much more”.

One Irish and one American insurance company have already expressed interest in the device, which could help younger drivers reduce their insurance premiums through safer monitored driving, the team said.

They will work with IT Sligo’s incubation centre to develop the device for market.

“They worked very hard to get here,” said Michael Meagher, Microsoft Ireland’s academic engagement manager, who accompanied the team to New York.

“It shows how Ireland as a small country can compete against the best and brightest from around the world. We have great students who can build software, start companies and change the world.”

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton said the victory was an inspiration to the country. “[The project] shows how new technology can help solve old problems potentially in any area of life,” he said.

“It also confirms to me that Irish people can compete the very highest level when it comes to creating technologies that can solve complex problems and create viable businesses.”