ENTRY #103 12/03/2022
Of everything interesting that's ever happened in my life, a ridiculous fraction has been downstream of Patch. The belief that 'you can just do things' never left me.
Build something great!
Ireland's community for exceptional young technologists, scientists, and entrepreneurs
FIG. 1 — PATCH COMMUNITY
SF Fellowship '25
Robot testing!
Visited by RTÉ!
Demo Day '24
Building together
A B C
What is Patch?
Talent is everywhere. Opportunity is not.
Patch's mission is to identify the most talented young people in Ireland and accelerate their development by raising their ambitions, increasing their confidence, and creating more opportunities for them to succeed.
We do this through a small number of interconnected programmes where participants are surrounded by exceptional peers and mentors who take them seriously — and who believe they're capable of far more than they might think.
Patch doesn't prescribe paths. Instead, it creates the conditions where ambition compounds: through a thousand interactions where mentors challenge participants to think differently, peers push each other beyond what they'd attempt alone, and older alumni set inspiring examples.
"Patch exists to give curious, ambitious young people a space and community where they can realise their potential"— Tom McCarthy, Patch Founder
Patch Programmes
DWG-001 PATCH PROGRAMMES — OVERVIEW REV. 2025
FIG. 1 — FLAGSHIP PROGRAMME
A 
B 
C 7 WEEKS
Summer Accelerator
Seven weeks. 35 people. The flagship entry point into Patch. Teams build startups, research projects, or technology. Everything covered: accommodation, meals, expenses.
LEARN MORE → CAPACITY 35
COST €0
STATUS OPEN
FIG. 2
Fast Grants
€200-€1,000 grants for 13-19 year olds to build hardware, attend conferences, or start events. Quick decisions, no bureaucracy.
DETAILS →FIG. 3
SF Fellowship
10 days in San Francisco. Inside startups, meeting founders, seeing what's possible.
DETAILS →FIG. 4
TECS
A one-month competition for TY-6th year students to turn ideas into working prototypes. Run with Immersive Software Engineering at UL.
DETAILS → Started by alumni
When Patchers see a gap, they fill it
The strongest signal of Patch working: alumni don't wait for permission. They start things.
PROJECT 01
Hack Ireland
Ireland's largest student hackathon. 150 students, 30 hours, €25k in prizes. Run by Patch alumni.
PROJECT 02
RoboWars
Ireland's premier hardware competition. Teams build combat robots, battle in an arena. Started by 2023 alumni.
PROJECT 03
Eirspace
Student rocket-building collective. Designing, building, launching.
PROJECT 04
Give(a)go
Building community centred around monthly hands-on sessions where attendees build something with new tech.
FIELD NOTES
From the engineers' handbook
^ Key insight!
ENTRY #156 28/07/2023
Patch completely changed how I think about ambition and impact. Being surrounded by people building boldly pushed me to dream bigger.
ENTRY #47 15/08/2020
Growing up in rural Kerry, I'd never had anyone to talk to about genetics and AI. During Patch, I met people who cared about the same things. I didn't feel alone anymore.
pg. 47
observations from the field →
Where alumni go
Companies, research, and everything in between
What they go on to build and work on speaks for itself.
Companies Founded
Ulysses
Robots under the ocean
Underwater drones collecting and sowing seagrass seed. Restoring marine habitats 100× faster than manual planting. $10M raised.
Icarus Robotics
Robots in space
Building a robotic labor force for space. Design partnerships with two commercial space station operators and NASA.
Field of Vision
Accessibility tech for blind sports fans
TIME's 100 Best Inventions. Tactile tablets that let visually impaired fans feel live sport in real-time. Deployed at FIFA World Cup, Rugby Six Nations.
Induct
Smart access control
Plug-and-play building access. Retrofits legacy doors in 15 minutes. Youngest team accepted to NDRC. 75% cost reduction.
Research, industry, and practice
Not everyone at Patch goes on to found a company. And that's by design. Patch isn't about pushing people toward a particular outcome. It's about giving talented young people the space, peers, and expectations to take their work seriously, wherever that leads.
Some alumni take this into research, pursuing fundamental and applied work across biology, physics, and AI. From studying AI safety in Cambridge to exploring whether muscles can be grown on chips in labs in Tokyo, the outcomes are broad.
Others take this into industry and practice, moving in many directions, from aerospace engineering at Firefly Aerospace and Formula 1 at Red Bull Racing, to software and systems roles at companies like Stripe, quantitative trading, and community, policy, and institutional work with organisations such as the Centre for Effective Altruism and national-level think tanks.
Learn from the best
Supported by exceptional leaders
Patch participants learn directly from Ireland's top founders, executives, and builders who share their experience and advice.
Patrick Collison
Co-founder and CEO of Stripe
Sarah Friar
CFO of OpenAI & Co-Launcher of Ladies Who Launch
Prof. Luke O'Neil
Professor of Biology at Trinity College Dublin
Niamh Donnelly
Co-Founder & CTO of Akara Robotics
Áine Kerr
Co-Founder and COO at Kinzen, previously Facebook
Patrick Walsh
Founder of Dogpatch Labs
Celine Halioua
Founder of Loyal, helping dogs live longer
James Whelton
Founder of CoderDojo
Underpinning our community
Patch is built on a foundation of philanthropy, volunteerism, and alumni giving back. The full-time team are alumni, and dozens of mentors and speakers contribute their time each year, supporting new cohorts and strengthening the community across generations.
Thanks to generous partner support, Patch programmes are free to attend. We also offer stipends where needed, ensuring access is based on potential rather than background.
We're grateful to the sponsors, donors, mentors, parents, and community members who make this work possible.
Our Partners
With additional support from Mark Cummins, Brian Kingham, and Craig Falls.
Summer Accelerator Applications Open
If you'd like to build something great over the summer, meet an amazing group of peers, and learn from Ireland's top founders — or you know someone who would — this is where to start.