Two University College Dublin Spin-out Companies Secure Disruptive Technologies Innovation Funding
The Irish Government has announced funding of €17.8 million for a further five innovative projects under Calls 4 and 5 of the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF), and University College Dublin spin-out companies, Plasma Bound and EpiCapture, are consortium members in two of the five funded projects.
The purpose of the DTIF, which is managed by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with administrative support from Enterprise Ireland, is to drive collaboration between Ireland’s world-class research base and industry as well as facilitating enterprises to compete directly for funding in support of the development and adoption of these technologies.
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney TD, said, “I am delighted to be able to announce the funding of three DTIF Call 5 projects and two additional DTIF Call 4 projects. This funding will see almost €18 million shared among the five projects, bringing total Government investment to date across five DTIF calls to €306 million. This latest investment will leverage a further €13 million from the enterprise partners, bringing total private sector investment in the 91 projects funded to date to €176 million. It is noteworthy that over 88% of this investment is by our indigenous SMEs, thereby making a significant contribution to closing the innovation gap with the higher R&D performing foreign owned multinational enterprises.”
Plasma Bound is a consortium member in a project focused on developing novel light-weighting technology for the aerospace industry which has been approved for €2.5 million in funding under DTIF Call 5. The consortium is led by ÉireComposites Teo and Technology University Dublin is the other consortium member.
Plasma Bound has developed a patented, novel surface treatment, called Controlled Polymer Ablation (CPA), which is applied prior to bonding of lightweight composite materials. This automated and highly repeatable process, previously prototyped successfully by ÉireComposites, selectively removes the top layer of polymer via plasma ablation with minimal thermal input and without damaging the fibre reinforcement of the composite material. TU Dublin (CREST), the third partner of this winning team will bring its strong material testing and surface characterisation capabilities to the consortium.
Plasma Bound was co-founded by Dr James Nicholas Barry, Alan Barry and Xavier Montibert as a spin-out from the UCD College of Engineering and Architecture.
Plasma Bound co-founders (l-r) Dr James Nicholas Barry, Alan Barry and Xavier Montibert
Alan Barry, CEO and co-founder, Plasma Bound said, “The development of this plasma ablation process by this DTIF project consortium will remove a significant barrier and allow much greater adoption of lightweight materials in multiple areas of the manufacturing process for the aerospace industry and will generate further economic growth in all regions of Ireland and create high-quality jobs for skilled people who live and work in rural Ireland.”
EpiCapture, which is developing a novel urine DNA test to detect aggressive prostate cancer, is the consortium lead in a project called Pro-Active which has been approved for €2.1 million in funding in the third tranche of Awards under DTIF Call 4.
The focus of the Pro-Active project is to disrupt the care pathway for men living with prostate cancer by providing a non-invasive urine test that accurately detects disease progression and removes the need for repeat prostate biopsies. The other consortium partners are Eurofins Biomnis Ireland Ltd and UCD.
EpiCapture was co-founded by Associate Professor Antoinette Perry and Edward Simons as a spin-out from the UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science.
EpiCapture co-founders Associate Professor Antoinette Perry and Edward Simons
Plasma Bound and EpiCapture are both headquartered at NovaUCD.
Simon Harris, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science TD said, “The projects announced today are fostering new relationships between businesses and the research sector. These relationships are important for providing opportunities for our graduates to nurture new ideas and apply innovative solutions to the challenges facing society. The Fund is therefore making a substantial contribution to putting talent at the centre of the research and innovation ecosystem, which is one of the five pillars in Impact 2030, our national Research and Innovation Strategy.”
A total of 91 DTIF projects have been awarded funding, totaling €306 million, across the five Calls to date and contain 340 partners, of which 213 are enterprise partners. The linkages between these SMEs and larger enterprises, especially multinational companies, are crucial in developing ecosystems and mentoring which can help local firms, including High Potential Start Ups (HPSUs), to become embedded in the value chains of FDI-intensive sectors. This will lead to higher domestic value-capture and enable our SMEs and domestic economy to benefit from positive spillovers.
Leo Clancy, CEO, Enterprise Ireland said, “The Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund is delivering real benefit to Irish enterprise and with this announcement it is set to deliver even more, particularly for companies within the Advanced and Smart Manufacturing space. Enterprise Ireland welcomes the significant contribution made by Irish companies awarded under DTIF to date.”
Click here for further information on the 3 other projects announced to receive DTIF funding.
DTIF Call 6 was launched in March with a deadline of 3 pm, 31 May for receipt of applications. Call 6 is an open Call and, in a change from the previous open Calls, the type of eligible research is broadened to include both “industrial research” and/or “experimental development”.
ENDS
21 April 2023
For further information contact Micéal Whelan, Communications and Media Relations Manager, UCD Research and Innovation, e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie.
Editors Notes
The Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF) is a €500 million fund established in 2018 under Project Ireland 2040. It is one of four funds set up under the National Development Plan (NDP) 2018-2027. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment manages the DTIF with administrative support from Enterprise Ireland. The purpose of the Fund is to drive collaboration between Ireland’s world-class research base and industry as well as facilitating enterprises to compete directly for funding in support of the development and adoption of these technologies. The aim is to support investment in the development and deployment of disruptive technologies and applications on a commercial basis.
Call 4 and Call 5 applications to DTIF were assessed by panels of international experts against four criteria – quality of the disruptive technology, excellence of overall approach, economic impact and sustainability, and strength of the collaboration. https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/what-we-do/innovation-research-development/disruptive-technologies-innovation-fund/