Young scientist show kicks off at RDS

Three days of judging is now under way in the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition at the RDS, with the Young Scientist for 2013 to be announced on Friday evening.

As ever, the formal opening included a bit of fun including some fireworks from presenters based at the Science Museum in London and some excellent music from twin sisters and indie folk duo The Heathers.

The nearly 2,000 students taking part in the event this year were introduced to last year's winners, Eric Doyle and Mark Kelly. They had flown back from the European Space Agency's operations centre in Darmstadt yesterday after a visit organised by Enterprise Ireland, the body that supports Irish involvement with ESA activities.

“Every one of you can change the world,” BT’s chief executive officer Colm O’Neill told the students at the launch event in the BT Arena. Each one of them carried ideas, the most powerful thing known, he told them. Fewer than one in three projects submitted for inclusion in the event actually made it through, he said so the students present were already winners through their “amazing achievement”.

A complement of 79 judges will now begin the task of carefully assessing each of the 550 projects on display at the RDS and putting together shortlists of possible winners. The top four prizes including best individual and best group and runner up individual and group will be the final awards announced at the close of the awards ceremony on Friday.

For the first time a special free app has been prepared for the exhibition. It runs on any mobile device and was put together by the Digital Skills Academy’s WebElevate Programme in partnership with BT Ireland. It will help you locate projects or find projects in any category. Download the app at btireland.com/btyste.

The exhibition continues through Saturday afternoon, so there will be plenty of time for the expected 40,000 visitors to take it all in. Student tickets cost €6, adult €12 and family passes €25.

Further information is available on btyoungscientist.com; or by phoning 1800-924363 (Republic), 048-800917 1297 (Northern Ireland). Twitter: #btyste