Enterprise Ireland North America recently hosted it’s first ever ‘Built Environment Week’ which took place in Enterprise Ireland HQ, Dublin in late March.
The initiative focused on highlighting the opportunities within North America for clients and was divided into three core verticals in which Irish companies have a unique offering.
Data Centre
Fourteen key executives from the US data centre industry met with representatives from fifteen Enterprise Ireland client companies for a series of client pitching sessions, business meetings, and a US/ Irish panel discussion. Following on from this, the group of both US executives and Irish clients travelled to Co. Cork to tour two client facilities. Bob Savage from EMC also joined the group to share his perspectives on doing business in Ireland in the data centre industry.
Oil and Gas
Six advisors from the US and Canada spoke to a number of Irish client companies about the North American Oil and Gas industry and the opportunities within it, the emerging trends and new extraction methods which are creating transformational effects on the industry and supply chain. The following day, one to one meetings were arranged to allow for greater in-depth discussions. This event was used as a prequel to the upcoming Trade Mission to Texas from May 4th-6th.
Construction
The construction stream of the Built Environment initiative involved bringing together seven key construction advisors from the US and Canada and facilitating a panel discussion with six relevant client companies. Following on from the open discussion, clients had the opportunity to pitch their US market plans and gain valuable feedback from the advisors. One to one meetings also provided an opportunity to discuss plans and market opportunities in more depth. Part two of the construction event saw the US advisors attend a client facility to see first hand the strong capability of many of our Irish client companies.
Aidan Hayes, SVP Construction, Engineering and BPO at Enterprise Ireland said: “Enterprise Ireland’s North American Built Environment week has been a great showcase and rich learning experience for Irish Companies targeting export growth in the US and Canada. Through quality interaction with North American industry experts, advisors and buyers, Enterprise Ireland’s client companies have built relationships and further developed trade links with the North American market, which provides an abundance of opportunity for Irish companies.”
A number of Enterprise Ireland consumer clients traveled to West Chester, Pennsylvania this March 17th to take part in the 25th annual QVC St. Patrick’s Day show.
QVC is an American cable, satellite and broadcast television network, and multinational corporation specializing in televised home shopping. It is one of the world’s largest multimedia retailers and broadcasts live in the US 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to almost 100 million homes.
QVC hosts two Irish shows a year, the St. Patrick’s Day show in March and a show in August to celebrate the Rose of Tralee festival. 2014 marks the 25th year of both of these shows, making them the longest standing ‘live’ events on the network.
This year 15 Irish companies sold their product live on air, both throughout the night and during the day for a total of 19 hours. Check out more at the QVC Irish Insights blog.
From hands-on training to big-picture analysis of the future, SXSW Interactive has become the place to experience a preview of what is unfolding in the world of technology. Enterprise Ireland delegates Viddyad and Trustev were shortlisted for this year’s SXSW Accelerator Awards, with Trustev winning the Enterprise and Big Data Category.
Enterprise Ireland clients, such as Betapond, Tapastreet and the vStream Group, had a fantastic opportunity to network with pioneering stakeholders in web, interactive media, film and music industries at a dedicated pitch event, cosponsored by NASDAQ. The judging panel, moderated by Mike Butcher of TechCrunch, included Bob McCooey (NASDAQ QMX), Jesse Gurevich (Vision Capital), Sean Devlin (Backplane), Stephen O’Shea (Concept Studio) and Gregory Osberg (Revlyst). TrakAx, a video editing platform that gives users the tools to transform their raw content into high quality original videos, beat stiff competition to emerge as winners at the Start Up Village pitch session.
Representatives from Silicon Valley’s leading start ups, incubators and venture capital firms were in attendance at Enterprise Ireland’s networking events which ran throughout the Interactive weekend and included attendees from Cisco, DFJ Venture, Start Up Grind and PayPal to name a few.
Complete list of companies & events can be seen here.
Enterprise Ireland is a sponsor of the 14th annual EBAN Congress taking place in May 2014. Hosted by HBAN, the congress will bring the European business angel community to Dublin. It is Europe’s largest angel event and the second biggest in the world
Enterprise Ireland is a sponsor of the 14th annual EBAN Congress taking place in May 2014. Hosted by HBAN, the congress will bring the European business angel community to Dublin. It is Europe’s largest angel event and the second biggest in the world.
The conference will be held in Dublin Castle on 19th to 20th May and will be attended by up to 350 delegates. It is forecast to bring in a minimum of half a million euros in revenue to Dublin, over the course of the two-day event.
The EBAN Annual Congress is the most significant event in the European business angel calendar. International investors and business angels, including some of the leading “super-angels”, along with venture capital firms and early stage fund managers, will come together to discuss the European business angel landscape, how to support and grow it and most significantly to share their knowledge and experience of investing.
According to the most recent research carried out by EBAN, the European business angel market is continuing to grow, with €5.1 billion invested by business angels in Europe in 2012, a 19% growth in comparison to 2011.
Across the island of Ireland, in 2013 alone, business angel syndicates and networks invested €8M in 50 early stage businesses, with an additional €18M raised from other sources such as seed venture capital funds, Enterprise Ireland and other private investors.
Since 2005, Enterprise Ireland has provided direct financial support to a number of initiatives aimed at improving the overall Angel funding environment in Ireland. Enterprise Ireland recognises the critical role that Business Angels play in the start-up ecosystem and will continue to work with the Angel community to ensure its clients can access this invaluable source of capital and expertise.
The EBAN Congress 2014 is being sponsored by Eversheds, Enterprise Ireland and InterTradeIreland, all of whom will be attending the conference to discuss insights on the Irish start-up and entrepreneurial market. The Irish Business Innovation Centres (BICs), Invest Northern Ireland and Fáilte Ireland are also supporting this important event for Business Angel investment.
Registration details for the EBAN Congress 2014 can be found here.
Personal connections are what make the world go round. There is no better way to increase your international network and increase your international profile than to host an international conference.
Co-ordinated by a dedicated international conferences team within Fáilte Ireland, the Conference Ambassador programme was formed to support and mentor individuals from a wide variety of professions and backgrounds in their pursuit to host an international Conference to Ireland.
Conference Ambassador Supports (both practical and financial) are available for anyone considering hosting an international conference in Ireland, from the initial invitation or bid right up to the conference itself.
Conference management may not be your area of expertise and it doesn’t have to be. Fáilte Ireland are on hand to offer unbiased advice and make introductions to the right trade partners to help take the fear out of hosting international congresses.
By becoming a Conference Ambassador, Fáilte Ireland’s Business Tourism Unit will be with you every step of the way. For example, you will receive help with: • Bid Documentation Preparation and Presentation • Site Inspection Hosting • Marketing Support
If you would like to talk to one of the team to find out more about our supports please contact Neasa on 01-8847169 or Azeta on 01-8847189.
More information can be found on the Conference Ambassador Programme website.
The winners of the Irish Concrete Society’s 32nd Awards were announced at an event in the Conrad Hotel, Dublin recently. The Awards recognise excellence in both design and construction in concrete. This year’s overall winner was the River Erne Bridge, Co Cavan.
Enterprise Ireland sponsored the International award, now in its second year, this award is for Irish companies who export product or service off the island of Ireland. The Award reflects the growing emphasis on export for all in Irish construction. This year the jury chose two winners one which featured Irish design expertise and the second which featured Irish precast concrete expertise. The Joint winners were O’Donnell & Tuomey Architects and the LSE Student Centre
There were a number of other awards presented on the night including:
Infrastructural Category and Overall Winner: The River Erne Bridge, Co. Cavan Building Award : Ballyroan Library Sustainability Commendation: Tipperary Civic Campus Sean De Courcy Student Award: Matthew Roche Sculpture Award: Mel French
An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny T.D., recently attended the Education in Ireland International Student Ambassador Awards Ceremony which took place in Farmleigh. This event honours the Student Ambassadors for their contribution in supporting the work of Enterprise Ireland in attracting international students to study in this country through the use of social media. The Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn T.D. was also present and presented the Student Ambassadors with Certificates of Recognition. Also honoured at this ceremony were the HEA Government of Ireland Scholars, on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills.
The Student Ambassador programme, managed by Education in Ireland, is aimed at attracting top students from priority markets to study in Ireland and is part of a Government led International Scholarship Scheme. This programme is only in its third year and has already more than doubled in size. This year the programme included almost 50 international students from 10 countries including USA, India, Canada, China, Brazil, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia representing 23 higher education institutions across Ireland. This programme is another key part of Enterprise Ireland’s promotional efforts to raise awareness of Ireland as a centre of international education.
Marina Donohoe, Head of Education at Enterprise Ireland which manages the International Student Ambassador programme said: ‘Education in Ireland, the umbrella brand for promoting Irish higher education institutions in international markets, is actively targeting students from around the world and encouraging them to study in Ireland. The power of social media cannot be underestimated as we seek to interact with international students’.
Enterprise Ireland HPSU client, Boxever, the leading big data and personalization platform for airlines and travel operators, has been selected by Tigerair, a global brand and leading low-cost carrier, to customize how they sell flights and other travel services to their guests, increasing conversion rates and enhancing the customer experience. The company also announced a $6 million investment led by Polaris Partners, with Dublin firm Frontline Ventures also participating to further expand their rapidly growing business.
Today, Boxever analyzes over 60 million guest profiles and billions of individual shopping, purchase and support interactions daily. Boxever’s customers use the platform to understand and communicate with their guests, effectively anticipating their needs, delivering double-digit improvements in flight conversion and ancillary sales, and contributing millions to their bottom line.
Headquartered in Dublin, Boxever has hired over 20 people in the last six months and expects to double their employees in the coming year. Boxever has won a number of other global travel brand accounts in recent months, where their deep travel expertise and agile analytics platform allow them to deliver immediate value to their customer’s businesses.
The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, recently launched a special €500,000 Enterprise Ireland Competitive Start Fund targeted at stimulating new start-up business activity in both the Aviation and Manufacturing sectors.
This Competitive Start Fund will help start up and early stage companies to get off the ground and launch new products and services in the international marketplace. The priority of the Fund is to provide young companies in these sectors with the critical early stage funding for the key commercial and technical milestones that will ensure delivery of their product or service, and help them get their project to a key funding milestone.
Making the announcement Brian O’Neill, Head of High Potential Start Ups Industrial & Life Sciences at Enterprise Ireland, said: “By introducing a targeted Start Fund for indigenous manufacturing start ups, Enterprise Ireland is emphasising the importance of retaining a focus on production, stimulating interest in new manufacturing technologies and materials and contributing to the creation of a positive environment to encourage more start up businesses in the manufacturing sector.
“We already have in place a world-class aviation ecosystem, which offers tremendous potential for new businesses with new innovative products and services. This Competitive Start Fund follows on from the successful Enterprise Ireland Competitive Feasibility Study Fund call launched in July 2013 where 20 entrepreneurs and businesses in the aviation sector were supported with an overall fund of €375,000 to investigate the viability of growth orientated opportunities in the aviation sector”.
An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, announced recently that Mayo based cloud service provider, CloudStrong, will be tripling its workforce with the creation of 19 new jobs. CloudStrong has been supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through Enterprise Ireland's HPSU programme to develop their export business in the UK and will create new roles in technical, sales and marketing.
Founded in 2011, Castlebar company CloudStrong specialises in providing cloud solutions and expertise to the ICT sector and has established itself as an authority on delivering complex SME projects to the cloud. CloudStrong has accelerated its export drive in the UK and expect sales to be worth €1.1 million by 2016.
Oliver Surdival, Managing Director, CloudStrong, said: ‘We are delighted to be creating job opportunities in the west. The main driver is the continued adoption of cloud solutions in the SME market. The team at CloudStrong has built a solid reputation in delivering complex SME projects to the cloud’.
Welcoming the announcement Lisa Vaughan, Head of Scaling and High Potential Start Ups at Enterprise Ireland, said: ‘Enterprise Ireland has worked closely with CloudStrong in supporting its strategic development and continued growth in export markets. This is an ambitious and innovative company and we look forward to continuing to work with them as they grow their business further’.
Enterprise Ireland recently held its inaugural Ones to Watch workshop and networking event in London for owners of innovative Irish companies doing business in the UK. The event coincided with President Higgins’ historic visit to the United Kingdom and was hosted by the Embassy of Ireland, London. The event aimed to support Irish High Potential Start-Up (HPSU) companies to accelerate their sales growth and consolidate relationships in the UK market.
The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore, T.D., who was representing the Irish Government throughout the State visit, also addressed the event.
40 Irish companies took part in the workshop, representing the next wave of young innovative Irish businesses supported by Enterprise Ireland. The networking event helped these companies to carve out new business relationships and opportunities in the UK. The event was also attended by 60 key UK customers and partners including Facebook, Telefonica, Techstars, Vodafone, Marriott Group and The British Fashion Council, along with strategic UK experts across a range of disciplines and leading British investment institutions.
Speaking at the event, Julie Sinnamon, CEO Enterprise Ireland, said: ‘Today is all about helping these young Irish companies to increase their profile and grow their sales in the UK market. 2013 was a record year for start-ups in Ireland with over 100 supported by Enterprise Ireland through strategic business advice and investment funding. Today’s event will provide practical assistance on the development and implementation of a UK market entry strategy. It provides a crucial first step for Enterprise Ireland clients planning their approach to the UK market’.
A delegation of senior Abu Dhabi business representatives visited Ireland from 7 – 9 April 2014 and met with Irish companies interested in doing business in Abu Dhabi and the wider Gulf region. The visit was a direct follow-up to the Abu Dhabi - Ireland Business Forum that was hosted by the Abu Dhabi Government during the Taoiseach-led Trade Mission in January of this year.
The delegation comprised of 40 representatives from Government and Private sector firms in Abu Dhabi, including Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce, Abu Dhabi Business Councils, large Abu Dhabi family businesses, representatives of local banks and key private sector companies operating in construction, healthcare, hospitality, and technology and food sectors in the United Arab Emirates.
Trade between Abu Dhabi and Ireland has increased substantially in recent years and Irish companies continue to flourish there. To facilitate further opportunities for trade and investment Enterprise Ireland hosted a B2B workshop during the visit on the 7th April so that interested Irish companies could take part in business meetings and explore opportunities with relevant members of the Abu Dhabi delegation. The workshop showcased Ireland as a source for world leading high tech products and solutions.
The Minister for Small Business, John Perry TD, recently launched the new Irish Chamber of Commerce in Central Europe, i-Cham CE, at an event in Enterprise Ireland’s offices in East Point Business Park, Dublin 3. Supported by Enterprise Ireland, i-Cham CE has the backing of the associated Embassies and its office will be based out of the Irish Exporters Association.
i-Cham CE is a new initiative which aims to bring the Irish business diasporas in Central Europe together through an integrated bi-lateral Chamber umbrella. The organisation aims to provide practical and on-the ground support to Irish SMEs who are entering or exploring these markets with the aim of increasing Irish exports and raising the profile of Irish products and services in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
i-Cham CE is supported by Enterprise Ireland as the intended scope of the organisation will complement the work of Enterprise Ireland’s offices in Warsaw and Prague, which cover the EU countries within i-Cham CE’s geographic footprint.
Enterprise Ireland’s Regional Director Conor Fahy said: “Enterprise Ireland strongly supports the establishment of i-Cham CE which will provide an additional conduit for Irish companies expanding their export footprint into Central Europe, the EU’s fastest growing region. It the past 10 years Irish exports to Central Europe have grown over 300%, and thanks to the continued “catch-up” dynamic, well-trained work force, healthy banking sector, and a combination of low public and private debt, Central European economies are expected to continue growing faster than Western Europe, generating wide ranging export opportunities for Irish companies”.
OxyMem Ltd, an Enterprise Ireland client company, was recently declared winner of the overall ‘Innovation of the Year’ Award at the 2014 Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards. At the awards ceremony held in Dublin, OxyMem Ltd, was also declared the winner of the Energy and the Environment category award.
OxyMem Ltd, an Enterprise Ireland client company, was recently declared winner of the overall ‘Innovation of the Year’ Award at the 2014 Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards. At the awards ceremony held in Dublin, OxyMem Ltd, was also declared the winner of the Energy and the Environment category award.
OxyMem Ltd, which has developed a breakthrough technology for wastewater aeration, was co-founded in 2013 by Professor Eoin Casey and Dr Eoin Syron as spin-out from UCD’s School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering.
Until now wastewater aeration has been a very energy intensive process which has relied on ‘forced’ or ‘bubble aeration’ to deliver oxygen to the bacteria that breaks down the wastewater. Pumping and treating wastewater typically accounts for up to 2.5% of all electrical power produced in a developed country and the aeration process comprises, on average, of 60% of this energy.
OxyMem’s patented technology does not rely on a bubble to deliver oxygen to the bacteria. Instead it uses a gas permeable membrane to deliver oxygen directly to the micro-organisms resulting in up to 99% oxygen transfer efficiency, as no oxygen is lost to the atmosphere. The company’s ‘bubbleless’ aeration system is typically four times more energy efficient than best in class solutions available today.
OxyMem currently employs 12 people and is in the process of closing a €2 million funding round and plans to increase staff numbers to 35 by the end of the year.
Wayne Byrne CEO, Oxymem Ltd said, “Looking to the future, we have major plans to revolutionise the wastewater treatment market globally. We have a turnover of €50 million within five years in our sights and receiving the overall ‘Innovation of the Year Award’ strengthens our position as pioneers in the wastewater industry and in the attainment of an energy and carbon neutral wastewater treatment plant."
Now in its fifth year The Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards showcase excellence in innovation, across a range of groundbreaking products and services from all sectors and company sizes across the island, North and South. In recent years the overall winners have created innovations as diverse as drug delivery systems and state-of-the art network switching, to anti-allergy pillows and new technologies for cleaning and disinfection.
New Frontiers is Enterprise Ireland’s national entrepreneur development programme for innovative, early-stage startups. Delivered nationally at a local level, it is a three-phased programme based in 14 campus incubation centres. Each year, New Frontiers funds 150 companies.
The main benefits of the programme include:
€15,000 tax-free grant
No equity taken from the business
Hot-desk and incubation facilities
Introduction to government and private investment opportunities
The New Frontiers Entrepreneur Development Programme is targeted at entrepreneurs and early stage start-up companies located across Ireland. The programme is open to applications from a diversity of sectors including; food & consumer products, information & communication technology, engineering & electronics, medical devices, biotechnology, pharma, digital media, cleantech/renewable energy and eligible internationally traded services.
Applications for the New Frontiers Programme are now being accepted by your local Institute of Technology. Interested applicants should contact their nearest participating Institute of Technology directly. Visit www.EnterpriseIreland.com/NewFrontiers
Dublin-based start-up company, Wyldsson, is partnering with the University of Limerick using an Enterprise Ireland Innovation Voucher to investigate the impact of specialised nutrition for golf performance. Wyldsson specialises in developing healthy food products for elite athletes.
Dublin-based start-up company, Wyldsson, is partnering with the University of Limerick using an Enterprise Ireland Innovation Voucher to investigate the impact of specialised nutrition for golf performance. Wyldsson specialises in developing healthy food products for elite athletes.
Dave McGeady, Wyldsson explains; “Hunger can be a serious issue for elite golfers, who can spend up to 6 hours straight on the course during a major tournament. There are few sports where such long periods of concentration and stamina are required. The margins are absolutely tiny in golf, so a good nutritional strategy can really make all the difference to a players’ performance. However, very little research has been carried out on this area – so we wanted to take the lead.”
McGeady added: “Golf-pro John Daly is notorious for drinking coke and munching on M&M’s during tournaments, however the parent of any young child will tell you after the great sugar rush comes a major crash – not ideal for any sports professional. That’s why people like Tiger Woods eat natural snacks like nuts and trail mix, which have a much lower glycemic index”.
University of Limerick researcher, Dr Mark Campbell, explains; “A huge amount of research has been undertaken in recent years to improve golf clubs and balls. However, there has been little work done in the area of nutrition and its effect on golf performance. This study will firstly, measure the typical energy expenditure of golfers undertaking a championship course round of golf. Secondly, physiological and psychological measures will be employed to measure golf performance. Finally, we then aim to recreate this round in our biomechanics lab and to evaluate the effect of feeding a nut and grain sustainable energy product on the maintenance of blood glucose and golf performance whilst undertaking a 'simulated' round of golf in the laboratory”.
The study will take place at Lahinch Golf Club and the University of Limerick’s biomechanics laboratory and involves Professor Phil Jakeman and Dr Mark Campbell. The study is being funded as part of the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Voucher Scheme.
Tapastreet, an Enterprise Ireland High Potential Start-Up client, recently announced an agreement with the Met Office, the UK’s national weather service, to collaborate on an innovative project to include social media signals with automated weather monitoring.
Tapastreet, an Enterprise Ireland High Potential Start-Up client, recently announced an agreement with the Met Office, the UK’s national weather service, to collaborate on an innovative project to include social media signals with automated weather monitoring.
Since 2012, Tapastreet has been working on harnessing the power of social media to provide real-time information about locations and events. Every day over 15 million geotagged photos are uploaded from smartphones to Twitter and Instagram alone. Tapastreet’s platform tracks these and many more from a wide range of other social networks, providing a comprehensive overview of what is happening anywhere in the world, as it happens.
This collaboration will build upon Tapastreet’s industry-leading trajectory mining and image synthesis technology and the Met Office’s global and local weather forecasting and observation systems, recognised as one of the most accurate in the world.
Tapastreet is taking part in the Enterprise Ireland “Ones To Watch” showcase event at the Embassy of Ireland in London, aimed at supporting Irish companies to accelerate their sales growth in the UK. The event coincides with President Higgins’ historic visit to the United Kingdom.
Minister for Research and Innovation, Seán Sherlock TD, recently welcomed the announcement by the European Space Agency (ESA) that it has launched the first in a series of novel Earth Observation (EO) Sentinel satellites under the European Union’s Copernicus Programme.
The Launch, which took place from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, represents the first of a series of satellite launches of the most ambitious global civilian Earth Observation project ever conceived. A multi billion euro initiative, Ireland will benefit directly by accessing data, free of charge, collected by the Sentinel satellites. As an advanced radar mission, Sentinel-1 can image the surface of Earth through cloud and rain both day and night. Read More.
Minister for Research and Innovation, Seán Sherlock TD, recently welcomed the announcement by the European Space Agency (ESA) that it has launched the first in a series of novel Earth Observation (EO) Sentinel satellites under the European Union’s Copernicus Programme.
The Launch, which took place from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, represents the first of a series of satellite launches of the most ambitious global civilian Earth Observation project ever conceived. A multi billion euro initiative, Ireland will benefit directly by accessing data, free of charge, collected by the Sentinel satellites. As an advanced radar mission, Sentinel-1 can image the surface of Earth through cloud and rain both day and night.
The Copernicus programme led by the European Commission (EC) in partnership with ESA and the European Environment Agency (EEA) will form a unified system through which vast amounts of data, acquired from space and from a multitude of ground-based sensors, will provide a range of thematic information services designed to benefit the environment, the way we live, address humanitarian needs and support effective policy-making for a more sustainable future. The services developed will provide accurate, timely and easily accessible information to improve the management of the environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure civil security.
Welcoming the launch Minister Sherlock said: “Copernicus is unique in that nothing of this scale currently exists globally and Europe is now poised to lead in this area - the opportunity for Ireland to play its role in Earth Observation into the future couldn’t be greater given the scope to develop new downstream services to meet the ever increasing national and international demand in this sector”.
The Minister also noted that this data “will provide important new commercial opportunities for Irish SMEs to develop bespoke environmental monitoring services with strong potential for export across international markets leading to new job growth creation opportunities.”
Copernicus will open up business opportunities helping Europe's enterprises creating new jobs and business opportunities such as services for environmental data production and dissemination, as well as the space industry. The European Commission anticipates that Copernicus could generate a financial benefit of some €30 billion and create 50,000 jobs in Europe by 2030.
Dr Barry Fennell, Enterprise Ireland, National Delegate to ESA’s Earth Observation Board points to the numerous opportunities through which Ireland can benefit from the use of satellite derived data. He explains that “data collected from the Sentinels can, for example, be used to provide decision support tools for crop yield prediction for the agriculture sector; improve search and rescue operations and enhance maritime surveillance capabilities; provide emergency response mapping to aid civil defence and operational aid agencies in addition to providing damage assessment maps post disaster to the Insurance industry”.
A collaboration between Enterprise Ireland and Mayo Clinic, USA will see the commercialisation of up to 20 novel medical technologies in Ireland over the next 5 years with the aim of creating several high value medical technology spin-out companies.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny T.D. witnessed the signing of the agreement by Jeff Bolton, Vice President Mayo Clinic and Dr. Keith O’Neill, Director Lifesciences Commercialisation, Enterprise Ireland in Dublin recently.
Enterprise Ireland’s aim is to commercialise up to 20 U.S medical technologies and to create 10 spin-out companies in Ireland from collaboration with one of the world’s leading medical institutions.
A collaboration between Enterprise Ireland and Mayo Clinic, USA will see the commercialisation of up to 20 novel medical technologies in Ireland over the next 5 years with the aim of creating several high value medical technology spin-out companies.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny T.D. witnessed the signing of the agreement by Jeff Bolton, Vice President Mayo Clinic and Dr. Keith O’Neill, Director Lifesciences Commercialisation, Enterprise Ireland in Dublin recently.
The Irish Government will provide up to US$16M (€11.7M) through Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Fund for the co-development and licensing of novel medical technologies developed at Mayo Clinic U.S. into Ireland where they will be commercialised. This will involve further development and validation of the technologies by research teams in Irish Higher Education Institutes, and introductions to investors to bring the technologies to market. Enterprise Ireland’s aim is to create 10 spin-out companies in addition to licensing/commercialisation relationships in Ireland for each medical technology.
The first project is under way in NUI Galway, internationally recognised for its expertise in Biomedical Science and Engineering. The device patented by the Mayo Clinic is for the treatment of acute pancreatitis. A team led by Dr Mark Bruzzi of NUI Galway aims to design and develop a prototype device for human clinical use, build on animal studies conducted thus far and advance the therapeutic technology towards a ‘first in man’ clinical investigation.
On the commercial side, NUI Galway will validate the market and reimbursement model for the device and support the exploitation of the commercial potential of the technology in Ireland. Investors Aisling Capital, New York and ACT Venture Capital are currently advising the team at NUI, Galway on the establishment of a spin-out company around this technology.
Signing the agreement between Enterprise Ireland and Mayo Clinic, Dr. Keith O’Neill, Enterprise Ireland said, “this deal is a win-win as it will seed as many as 10 spin-out companies in Ireland whilst bringing advanced medical technologies to patients and providing a revenue stream back to Mayo Clinic to enhance its mission. We look forward to working with Mayo Clinic to create new companies around these world-class technologies some of which may, in time, establish a presence in Minnesota U.S, close to Mayo Clinic, benefiting the local economy there as well as in Ireland.”
