Innovative electrical clip secures top spot at Invent 2018

Winners of INVENT 2018 Julie and David Gray of Gray’s Clip are congratulated by headline sponsor Gavin Kennedy of Bank of Ireland UK. Picture by Brian Morrison.

Winners of INVENT 2018 Julie and David Gray of Gray’s Clip are congratulated by headline sponsor Gavin Kennedy of Bank of Ireland UK. Picture by Brian Morrison.

12 October 2018

The highly anticipated INVENT Awards from Connect at Catalyst Inc, took place in Belfast’s Waterfront, during which Gray’s Clip was announced as the overall competition winner.

Sponsored by Bank of Ireland UK, the event saw almost 700 distinguished guests gather to celebrate some of Northern Ireland’s most talented innovators in a ‘Night of Innovation’.

The overall winner, Gray’s Clip walked away with a prize package of £13,000 (from the overall prize total £33,000), as well as a bespoke business trip to the United States in 2019.

Gray’s Clip based in Bangor has revolutionised the process of clipping electrical cables. The product works with a battery powered stapler to secure cables to wooden joists and structures. With this product no more hammering is needed, the user simply loads the strip of 20 clips into a stapler and presses the button. It’s quick, easy and safe.

Company owners, husband and wife team Julie and David Gray, created the idea in 2016 after electrician David couldn’t find an insulated staple to secure the cables and had to hammer each clip individually. Although searching for years, he was disappointed not to find anything suitable and teamed up with wife Julie to develop their product.

INVENT sponsor, Gavin Kennedy, Bank of Ireland UK’s Head of Business Banking NI said, “Julie and David demonstrated outstanding commitment, passion and belief towards realising their ambition in bringing their idea, Gray’s Clip to market. Witnessing such determination and vision from them and all of the participants highlight what an inspiration our local Entrepreneurs are for Northern Ireland in business and the wider community.”

The INVENT competition offers an opportunity for the innovators of Northern Ireland to come forward and be recognised as the next ‘big thing’ – and this year attracted a record breaking 131 entries across the six categories.

INVENT Programme Manager Kerry McGarvey said, “The INVENT competition is continuing to grow each year, proving that Northern Ireland is bursting with innovation. Tonight, we see a culmination of several months of hard work and as always we are overwhelmed with the energy and enthusiasm from everyone involved.”

Also at the event John Rainey MBE, of Denroy Group, received the prestigious 2018 Innovation Founder award. With John at the helm since 1972, Denroy has been focusing on innovation through a diverse range of plastic products including medical devices, aircraft wing components and the globally successful iconic Denman hairbrush. He joins an esteemed list of previous recipients – James Lecky, Martin Naughton KBE, Brian Conlon, Dr William Wright CBE, Dr Peter FitzGerald CBE, Tom Eakin, Dr Hugh Cormican and Prof John Anderson.

There are also five other category winners of the INVENT 2018 competition who each receive £3,000 each. They are:

  • Agri Science
    Crafted Equestrian: An Injury prevention solution for horses
    Team: Jenny Gregg
  • Electronics
    Machine Eye: Intelligent safety device
    Team: Brendan Digney, Alan Ferguson, Jonathan Atkinson, Ben Kelly, Tiernan Conlon
  • Life & Health Science
    SonoTarg: Ultrasound targeted cancer drug delivery
    Team: John Callan
  • Engineering
    Gray’s Clip: Fully insulated power cable clip
    Team: Julie Gray
  • Creative Media
    Go-Fyt: Revolutionary way to find and book health & wellbeing providers
    Team: Jason Harvey and Andrew McCracken
  • Enterprise Software
    Importwise: Goods importation processing system
    Team: Barry Rollins

Notes to editors:
INVENT is an annual competition that showcases and rewards local innovations that promise the greatest potential. It’s an opportunity to gain high-profile exposure and to market-validate ideas.

About Connect
Connect is a not-for-profit network of experienced entrepreneurs, business professionals and top research talent. We’re dedicated to the creation and scaling of innovation companies in Northern Ireland. Every year we help over 800 local entrepreneurs to aim higher and succeed faster.

Based on the proven University of California Connect model, we run intensive development programmes, track NI’s knowledge economy and nurture the entrepreneurial spirit of young people. We introduce our programme participants to a network of potential investors and help plug gaps in their business knowledge. We’re supported by corporate partners, underwritten by Catalyst Inc and don’t take equity in the organisations we help. That’s because our vision is for Northern Ireland to become one of the most entrepreneurial knowledge economies in Europe by 2030.

Press contact
Joanne Stuart, Director of Development
Email: joanne.stuart@catalyst-inc.org
Telephone: 07557 226237