Two Mayo students who created an app that helps teenagers manage their diabetes have placed fifth in the world in their category at the global Technovation competition.
Orlaith Colleran and Edel Walsh, both 14, from Hollymount, came fifth in the junior category at this year’s Technovation.
The Mount Saint Michael Secondary School students represented Ireland and Europe at the competition, which saw 3,600 entries from 13,000 students.
Thirteen countries representing the five continents competed at Technovation, which took place in Bengaluru, India.
Orlaith and Edel competed at Technovation through the support of Teen Turn, a non-State-supported initiative which aims to educate teenage girls in technology.
“It’s a massive, significant event to get a team from rural Ireland to come all the way to a world stage and stand beside all the other countries,” Iseult Mangan, Teen Turn’s Regional Manager, told the Irish Independent from India.
Orlaith and Edel were selected to represent Ireland and Europe at the competition after they developed the innovative DiAssist app.
Using AI technology, the app allows users to take photos of their meals before analysing the food and providing nutritional information to help people make informed decisions about how it may affect their blood glucose levels.
The app also helps monitor users’ wellbeing by letting them keep daily records of how they are feeling and their glucose levels, helping identify possible links between their emotional well-being and diabetes management.
This feature was included after Orlaith and Edel’s research identified a potential link between diabetes and poor mental health in teenagers.
Orlaith Colleran (centre, left) and Edel Walsh (centre, right) from Hollymount pictured at the 2026 Technovation Global Finals in Bengaluru, India with (left) Iseult Mangan, Regional Manager with Teen Turn, and Stephanie Hogan (right), teacher in Mount Saint Michael Secondary School, Claremorris © Iseult Mangan
Paying tribute to Edel and Orlaith, Ms Mangan said “they are already thinking of what they can do next” with Teen Turn.
DiAssist is the latest successful project Teen Turn has produced in Mount Saint Michael. The programme began at the all-girls Claremorris-based secondary school in 2019 and has since expanded into Ballyhaunis Community School, St Patrick’s Lacken Cross and Rice College Westport.
“It’s massively significant to us that the girls that stay with us and work on these projects get to see the successes of other girls doing really well,” said Ms Mangan.
Edel Walsh (centre, left) and Orlaith Colleran (centre, right) being applaued by students from Mount Saint Michael Secondary School, Claremorris, County Mayo, as they prepare to take part in the Technovation Global Finals in Bengaluru, India © Oisín McGovern
“We do focus on under-represented, under-served communities, rural communities, trying to give them the same, equal opportunities that everyone else is getting. It’s massive for us. Like many girls that have gone before them, they will be role models for the girls that will be coming behind them,” she said.
She thanked Mount Saint Michael Secondary School for the “lovely send-off” when they lined the corridors and applauded Orlaith and Edel before they travelled to India.
Ms Mangan also paid tribute to the Technovation organisers for their “absolutely amazing support”.
“There’s a never-ending supply of support and encouragement. They have made friends for life.”