Patching up the future

PURPLE PATCH Tom McCarthy speaking at Patch’s 2021 Demo Day at the Dogpatch Labs Broadcast Studio.

Castlebar man Tom McCarthy wants to help talented young people realise their full potential

Interview
Anton McNulty

BACK in 2014, 14-year-old Tom McCarthy made national headlines with his dream of building a nuclear fusion reactor in his parent’s shed on the Westport Road in Castlebar. When asked why he wanted to do this, the talented teen’s reply was simple. “Why can’t I?”
Fast forward almost a decade, and Tom – now 23 and studying theoretical physics in Trinity College Dublin – has the same outlook on life. But now he wants to help other young people reach their full potential too.
“I love working with people who are excited about what they do, whether that’s in science, technology or business,” Tom tells The Mayo News. “I really enjoy engaging in ideas and making something happen.”
Never one to let the grass grow under his feet, Tom was not long in Dublin after completing his Leaving Cert when, in 2018, he founded Patch – a non-profit company that aims to ‘identify Ireland’s most promising young people and accelerate their development into world-class founders, scientists and leaders’. An inspiring mission statement – but is it being achieved? It would seem so, yes.

Accelerating potential
So how did Patch get off the ground?
“When I started college I studied physics and met Patrick Walsh, who runs Dogpatch Labs, a start-up hub in Dublin,” Tom explains. “They were really generous with their support and offered space to me
“I started to organise one-day-long events there for teenagers and students who wanted to be working on projects and are passionate about trying to create something, whether it is scientific or business… Out of that grew the idea of doing something longer than a single-day event. That is where Patch started.”
The first summer programme, or ‘summer accelerator’ as it is referred to, was in 2019 and  12 young people took part.
“We were figuring it out as we went, but we got great support. This summer will be our fifth programme. We have an alumni network of 90 people, which includes four BT Scientist winners.”
The summer accelerator programme is open to people aged 16 to 21, and it runs for seven weeks over the summer in the Dogpatch Labs in Dublin. This summer they hope to take on 36 young people.
“The idea is to run something that brings together highly motivated, highly able and passionate people who want to work hard on projects together. Hopefully they will find a community of people who they can work with and meet role models… In the long term, the hope is we will produce more great leaders in business, technology and science.”
Tom was attracted to maths, science and business while growing up. “Just reading about what people have done and how they had gone around things was always really exciting to me,” he says.
When asked if his school days were too easy for him, he pauses to reflect before saying that school was always enjoyable, from Errew National School to St Gerald’s College secondary school.
“I had great teachers. I really benefitted from teachers who looked out for me, and if the course work wasn’t at the right level for me or others in the classes, they would give us additional challenges….
As a teen he wanted to work on projects and with others, particularly in areas like DCG (design and communication graphics) technology and applied maths and physics. “The common things in those projects was there was a lot of problem solving and hands-on work. I benefitted from that, but I would have loved if there was more of it.”

Opening doors
But back to that nuclear-fusion reactor. Saying somewhat nonchalantly that it was just something he wanted to do, he adds that he took the media attention at the time in his stride. He might not have been bothered about being in the spotlight but it undoubtedly changed his life.
“People who are interested in doing things and creating things seem to enjoy sharing stories with each other and learning, whether they are working on science projects or business or tech.
“As a result of me working on the fusion reactor I got to meet people who were running businesses or working in mathematics, or were academics, and that gave me great exposure to people and what they thought. It opened doors for me,” he said.
Tom now hopes that Patch will open the door for more young people.
“I am not sure what I’ll do in the long term, but above all, what I really hope is to continue to work with people who are excited and highly motivated and in most cases want to create something new.
“I believe there is a huge amount of talent out there among young people. Each year there are thousands of students milling around the RDS for the BT Young Scientist [and Technology Exhibition] who are all interested in science and embracing research.
“The reason Patch exists is because we want to find those people and give them the chance to do the very best they can and have the fullest impact that they can.”

To find out more about Patch, visit www.joinpatch.org.