Pictured, L-R:  John Moore, CEO, 3D4Medical; Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD; Niall Johnston, President, 3D4 Medical; Leo McAdams, Enterprise Ireland

Irish medical technology company, 3D4Medical, the world’s leading medical applications developer, will create 70 new highly skilled jobs over the next 18 months. The announcement was made as Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, officially opened the company’s new global headquarters in Blackrock, Co Dublin last week.

3D4Medical has been supported by the Department of Jobs through Enterprise Ireland.

3D4Medical is an indigenous Irish technology company that specialises in the development of medical applications for professional reference as well as student and patient education. The company will create positions in the highly skilled technical, design and medical sectors including: software developers, 3D graphic artists and medical writers and experts, to build on the success of its world-renowned applications. The opening of the new global headquarters in Dublin will allow 3D4Medical to more than treble the company’s workforce in Ireland and reflects the company’s strong growth in the global medical technology market and its commitment to continuing to grow its headquarters and maintain its R&D base in Ireland.

Speaking at the opening of the 3D4Medical’s new headquarters, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, said: “Health technology is an area which we have specifically targeted as part of our Action Plan for Jobs, as we have massive advantages in this area as a country due to our established cluster of world-leading technology and health companies. Among the actions we have put in place in this area are measures to support extra research and innovation in this area, such as the establishment of a Health Innovation Hub. Today’s announcement that 3D4Medical, a highly innovative and fast-growing Irish company in this area, is creating 70 extra jobs as part of its international expansion is a great example of what is possible in this area. I wish John and the team every success with this expansion.” 

3D4Medical CEO and founder, John Moore, said: “As an Irish company we are delighted to be in a position to further build our research and development and technical teams from Dublin. We are committed to developing world leading products and this focus on innovation has already brought us phenomenal success across the globe with our apps being downloaded over 12 million times. The recent investment by Malin Corporation plc and the continued support of Enterprise Ireland, will enable 3D4Medical to recruit 70 new people as we continue our focus on R&D and the infrastructure to support our new cloud based technology solutions globally.”

Enterprise Ireland CEO Julie Sinnamon said “Enterprise Ireland has been working with 3D4 Medical since 2005. During that period we have supported the company’s R&D investment, management development and international growth into the US, Europe and Russia. Supporting companies to scale is a key focus of Enterprise Ireland and we look forward to continuing to work with 3D4 Medical as they scale in the high-growth digital health market.” 

3D4Medical’s success has been based on the development of medical applications for the iPhone, iPad and desktop which have now become must have accessories for the medical profession. 3D4Medical has rapidly emerged as a global leader in the digital health/eHealth arena and is now transitioning from a global medical applications developer to a global medical learning and clinical solutions provider. 3D4Medical was also recently featured as part of the global launch of Apple’s new iPad Pro in San Francisco, which demonstrated their new platform Complete Anatomy.  

In addition to its new global headquarters in Dublin, 3D4Medical has also recently opened offices in Poland, Russia and San Diego. 

Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation, Damien English TD launched the national IP Protocol 2016 last week.  The new Protocol entitled “Inspiring Partnership - national IP Protocol 2016” (an update to the Protocol published in 2012) continues the State’s aim of making the process of engagement between business and the research base in Ireland more straightforward.

Produced by Knowledge Transfer Ireland for the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, the new Protocol is consistent with existing policy and introduces some practical additions to speed up negotiation between industry and research performing organisations.

Ireland already performs well within this space and is set to continue to do so. The number of companies working with research performing organisations in 2014 increased by 46% - a figure that is expected to continue to grow, not least with the advent of the new Protocol which further simplifies the processes involved.  In addition, almost 2,000 new collaborative agreements were signed between industry and research organisations in 2014 and in the same year there was a 21% increase in the number of licences/options/assignments known collectively as LOAs.

Speaking at the launch, the Minister said “We want investment in public research to drive innovation and competitiveness in business, the public sector and to enable the creation of jobs.  The IP Protocol 2016 sets out Government’s policies to encourage industry to benefit from publicly-funded research and describes the practical arrangements for this to happen.  In producing the IP Protocol, Knowledge Transfer Ireland consulted extensively with representatives from industry and research organisations to ensure Government policy supports all enterprises engaging with research performing organisations in Ireland.”

Also speaking at the launch, Alison Campbell, Director of Knowledge Transfer Ireland said “In working with the Department to produce the IP Protocol, Knowledge Transfer Ireland sought to deliver a simpler and very practical guide for anyone engaging in the process of knowledge or technology transfer.  We are very pleased that the IP Protocol 2016 and the associated resource guide does just that.  In particular, the IP Protocol offers valuable support that will help increase the number of companies and research performing organisations working together and the number of businesses benefitting from innovation.”

The National IP Protocol 2016 comprises two volumes: 

1)      the policy document which sets out the framework underpinning research collaboration and access to intellectual property from state-funded research.  

2)      the resource guide which provides an overview of the national IP management guidelines and links to a wealth of resources and template documents that support these guidelines.  It also provides an overview of the knowledge transfer structures in Ireland and the kinds of agreements that can be used to formalise research-industry engagements.

For more information, visit www.knowledgetransferireland.com

The objective of the Competitive Feasibility Fund for the Midlands and Mid-East Region is to assist new start-up entrepreneurs or early stage companies to investigate the viability of new growth orientated business propositions which have the potential to become a high potential start-up company in counties Laois, Longford, Offaly, Westmeath, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow. 

These are companies that can develop scalable innovative technologies, products or services for sale on world markets.  Enterprise Ireland is seeking, through a Feasibility Grant, to support projects that are likely to achieve significant growth within three to four years (sales of €1m+ per annum and employment of 10 or more) or, where a company is required to have FDA or CE approval, to have €1m+ in sales within three years of approval to sell.

The purpose of the Feasibility Grant is to enable the Applicant, and Enterprise Ireland, to reach firm conclusions regarding the project's viability and set out an investor ready business plan and financials associated with developing and commercialising the product or service on international markets.

The Fund is open to individuals, early-stage companies or prospective businesses involved in manufacturing and internationally traded services, including sectors such as Internet, Games, Apps, Cloud Computing, Enterprise Software, Lifesciences, Food, Beverages, Consumer Products, Industrial Products, Engineering, Medical Devices and e-Health.

The total fund size is up to €200,000 and the maximum grant available is €25,000.  The grant is calculated at a maximum of 50% of eligible expenditure of up to €50,000 incurred by the successful Applicant. 

Eligible applications for funding will be considered on a competitive basis – more details are available at www.enterprise-ireland.com/cffmidlands

Ireland’s small enterprise sector has a valuable role to play in the development of our knowledge based economy. The ability of small companies to adapt quickly to market changes means they are often in an ideal position to take on new ideas. 

The objective of the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Voucher initiative is to build links between Ireland’s public knowledge providers and small businesses and to create a cultural shift in the small business sector’s approach to innovation.

If you own or manage a small limited company and you want to explore a business problem or opportunity you can apply for an Innovation Voucher worth €5,000. The voucher can be exchanged for advice and expertise from knowledge providers. To be successful in your application, your project must require an innovative solution, provide additional value for your company and have on-going benefits.

The first call of 2016 for Innovation Vouchers opens on Wednesday 20th January and closes on Wednesday 3rd February at 3pm.

By participating in the Innovation Voucher programme, you can concentrate on running your business while knowledge providers come up with a solution that could take your business to the next level. The voucher also opens the door to knowledge providers, building links between you and researchers that could yield further benefits in the future.

All small limited companies, in every sector of the Irish economy are eligible to apply for an Innovation Voucher*. The only exclusions are small enterprises in the agricultural sector, in line with State Aid guidelines. Applications are not restricted to clients of Enterprise Ireland.

Companies can approach any Institute of Technology, University or publicly-funded research oganisation on the island of Ireland provided those research bodies have agreed to participate in the Innovation Voucher programme.

For a full list of participating knowledge providers and further information about the programme, go to www.innovationvouchers.ie

*For the purposes of the Innovation Voucher Initiative, a Small Enterprise is defined as a company or (if part of a group) a group of companies where the total number of full-time employees in the company (or the entire group) is less than 250 and has an annual turnover not exceeding €50m and/or an annual Balance Sheet total not exceeding €43m.

Enterprise Ireland has welcomed the publication of the Action Plan for Jobs 2016 by the Government which aims to create 50,000 extra jobs in 2016.  Following a record year for job creation by its client companies with over 10,000 net new jobs created in 2015, the agency is fully committed to continuing to support Irish businesses to grow and create new jobs to meet the targets set out in the Action Plan.

As part of this new phase of the Action Plan for Jobs process, 200,000 net additional jobs are targeted by 2020, which would bring the total numbers of people at work to 2.18million.

The 2016 plan outlines 304 actions which will be implemented this year by 16 Departments and over 60 Agencies.

Among the headline actions included in this year’s plan are:

• All Government transactions with business will be available online by 2017, a move which will affect 370 Government transactions with 185,000 businesses across the country
• Double the intellectual property outputs from business
• Following the successful rollout of the Regional Jobs plans, further actions to support regional jobs growth supported by €530million in funding
• A step-up in skills supply, including a single Government web portal to highlight job opportunities to returning emigrants and a new National Skills Strategy
• 13,000 new jobs in Enterprise Ireland companies and 16,000 new jobs in IDA companies in 2016
• A series of measures to double the jobs impact from start-ups, including support for 185 high-potential and early-stage start-ups and 4000 jobs from the Local Enterprise Offices in 2016
• Mentoring and management development programmes for 1300 Irish companies in 2016
• €150million in new funding for R&D from Horizon 2020, and €600million in R&D investment annually from multinational companies
• A National Clustering Initiative – while clustering is an important strength of the Irish economy, particularly at regional level, research suggests that this can be significantly strengthened with specific initiatives
• Agri-food – establish a Centre for Consumer Insights and a Meat Technology Centre to support food innovation
• Measures to target jobs from new sectors including the bio-economy and the audio-visual sector

Enterprise Ireland CEO Julie Sinnamon said: “The launch of the Action Plan for Jobs 2016 is a very important strategy which sets out a series of targeted actions across a range of industry sectors and Government agencies to support the creation of 50,000 new jobs in 2016.  Enterprise Ireland’s strategy of supporting Irish business to start, innovate and scale in order to build an indigenous engine of growth for the economy, will help our client companies to create more jobs and support the Action Plan for Job’s objectives to develop a sustainable economy based on enterprise, exports and innovation”.