.ie Digital Town Awards 2024 Winners Announced at Gala Event
Winning projects highlight how digital innovation fosters inclusive and sustainable communities.
.ie, the trusted national registry for over 330,000 domain names who serve as a profit for good organisation with a mission to elevate Ireland’s digital identity, has today announced the winners of the .ie Digital Town Awards 2024 at a Gala event held at the Sheraton Hotel, Athlone, Co. Westmeath.
The awards are proudly sponsored by Square, the technology company that makes commerce and financial services easy and accessible, and are supported by the Western Development Commission. Now in their 4th year, the .ie Digital Town Awards shine a light on local projects that have a digital element and promote the use of the internet and digital technologies. They recognise the positive impact of digital strategies in community organisations, town groups, regional or national collaboration projects, and individual businesses across the country. A total prize fund of €60,000 was distributed to ten winners, across nine categories at today’s gala ceremony.
- The overall winner of the .ie Digital Town Awards was a Digital Education project covering the Midlands, picking up prize worth €9,000.
- The .ie Digital Town Awards recognise and reward projects with a digital element created by town groups, local communities and individual businesses
- Prize fund of €60,000 distributed to ten winners across nine digital innovation categories
The overall .ie Digital Town Awards winner was a collaborative project entitled ‘Driving Digital Education in the Midlands’ which aims to embed digital education programmes in schools in Laois, Offaly, Westmeath and Longford. As an area that has been directly impacted by the green transition, the development of future skills in these communities to meet new industry demands is essential. The project has seen industry, government, and education stakeholders coming together to collaborate on digital education programmes for students and young people across the region. This project was also the winner in the Digital Education category. The runner up in the Digital Education category was Friends of the Elderly from Dublin 1.
Standout winners and runners up on the day showed how transformational digital technologies can be in making communities more accessible, engaging and sustainable.
The winner in the Digital Community category was the Nature Walker App from Wexford. This app allows individuals with physical or psychological impairments to explore parks or sites of natural beauty through the use of augmented reality. The app enables users to build familiarity with an area so that they can eventually physically visit the area when ready.
In the Digital Sustainability category the winning project looked at ways of improving air quality for the residents of Trim. The project uses sensors placed throughout the town and processes air quality readings through an AI tool. These air quality readings provide real time information on the health impact poor air quality can have. The project aims to drive behavioural change through educational workshops with local post-primary schools.
The Newcomer Award was won by ‘Midland’s Polish Community TV.’ The project, which is based in Athlone, brings multinational volunteers and video enthusiasts together to tell community stories through live broadcasts and video productions with a focus on integration and inclusion.
The Digital Business Award was won by Future Mobility Campus Ireland from Shannon, Co. Clare. Future Mobility Campus Ireland is an automotive test facility located in the real-world setting of the Shannon Free Zone, providing customers with the ability to test, validate and demonstrate their technologies. Customers have access to a road network that is retrofitted with interconnected state of the art sensing and telecommunication technologies or a “Smart City Infrastructure,” which is controlled via a dedicated control centre. Facilities include the fibre connected ‘Smart City’ as well as a fleet of test vehicles, low-speed manoeuvring test track and a large-volume data centre for storage and high-speed data processing.
.ie Digital Town Awards Winners 2024:
Digital Education Award Winner: Driving Digital Education in the Midlands
Overall Winner
Digital Tourism Award Winner: Digital Ennistymon with Waywyser –
a tool for slow tourism
Digital Community Award Winner: Wexford - Nature Walker App
Digital Business Award Winner: Shannon - Future Mobility Campus Ireland
Digital Sustainability Award Winner: Trim - Decarbonising Trim
Digital Newcomer Award Winner: Midland’s Polish Community TV
Digital Rising Star Award: Truagh Spirit Wise & Well Social Club
Digital Changemaker Award: Waterford Digital Story Trail
Digital Local Hero Award: Alan Kelly, school principal, Carrigallen
In total, 16 town and community digital projects were recognised at this year’s .ie Digital Town Awards 2024 – winners and runners-up across the six main categories, three special category winners and one overall prize winner.
Oonagh McCutcheon, National Director, .ie Digital Town Programme, said: ‘The quality of entries in this year’s .ie Digital Town Awards has been incredibly impressive. We were delighted to see so many projects across the country harnessing the power of digital to enhance and contribute to their local towns and communities. The projects recognised at the awards ceremony today epitomise the benefits of digital transformation in Ireland.’
Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, Dara Calleary TD, said: ‘I want to congratulate all the winners and runners up of this year’s .ie Digital Town Awards, all of the projects that entered in these awards should be commended for their contribution to Ireland’s digitalisation. It is inspiring to see how the digital innovations recognised at these awards have helped their communities work towards a more inclusive and sustainable future.’
John O'Beirne, Executive Director of Square in Europe, said: ‘The .ie Digital Town awards showcase and celebrate the fantastic innovation that is taking place all across Ireland. In a rapidly evolving environment, innovators like Future Mobility Campus Ireland in Shannon and the collaborative Midlands region project which uses digital to manage the green transition, ensure that Ireland remains inclusive as a society and competitive as an economy.’