Posted 27 March 2015
University College Dublin scoops two of four major awards at Knowledge Transfer Ireland 2015 Impact Awards
The Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation, Mr Damien English TD has presented University College Dublin with two of the four awards at the Knowledge Transfer Ireland (KTI) Impact Awards 2015.
UCD Deputy President and Registrar, Professor Mark Rogers was presented with the Licence2Market Impact Award for his development of a novel diagnostic test for BSE which was subsequently licensed to Enfer Scientific by NovaUCD, UCD’s technology transfer office.
The award recognises a commercial product or service that is based on a licence to intellectual property rights from an Irish publicly-funded Research Performing Organisations (RPO) and its path to licence. Enfer Scientific further developed the technology into one of the first commercially robust diagnostics for BSE to obtain EU regulatory approval and contributed to the rapid expansion by the Co. Tipperary-based company.
Professor Eoin Casey and Dr Eoin Syron, co-founders of OxyMem, a spin-out company from the UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, University College Dublin, were presented with the Spin-Out Company Impact Award 2015.
The award recognises a spin-out company from an Irish publicly-funded RPO that has achieved a significant event in the previous year. OxyMem’s achievements include securing several rounds of investment, successfully delivering field trials of its membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) wastewater treatment technology, creating over 25 full-time jobs at its Athlone facility and securing early orders.
Pictured (l-r): Dr Alison Campbell, Director, KTI; Minister Damien English TD; OxyMem co-founders, Prof Eoin Casey and Dr Eoin Syron, UCD Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering; Prof Orla Feely, UCD Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact; and Dr Ciaran O'Beirne, Manager, Technology Transfer, NovaUCD. (UCD Deputy President and Registrar, Prof Mark Roger received his award in absentia).
“The KTI Impact Awards celebrate the significant impact of commercially valuable knowledge transferred from the research system into Irish industry. It is important to recognise the successful impact achieved by industry in Ireland through the acquisition of new technologies and intellectual property or by getting expert advice from State-funded researchers and the Universities, Institutes of Technology and research institutes where they work,” said Minister English.
“KTI’s aim is to support the economic and social return from State investment in research by encouraging companies to engage with the research base in Ireland to help them innovate. KTI is playing an important part by making the knowledge, expertise and IP available within our research performing organisations more visible to companies so that they may use research and innovation to drive competitive advantage and sustainable job creation,” said Dr Alison Campbell, Director of KTI.
“I would like to congratulate Professor Mark Rogers, Professor Eoin Casey and Dr Eoin Syron on winning their respective KTI Impact Awards 2015. Winning two of four major awards is an outstanding achievement for UCD and demonstrates the strength of the world-class research being carried out at the University and also reflects the strengthen of support provided to researchers by our technology transfer team at NovaUCD in commercialising their research outputs, with global impact potential, through licensing deals or establishment of spin-out companies,” said Professor Orla Feely, UCD Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact.
Additional honours for UCD at KTI Impact Awards
Dr Ciaran O’Beirne, Manager, Technology Transfer at NovaUCD, was also presented with a KTI Impact Award in recognition of the support provided by the team at NovaUCD to developing the OxyMem’s proposition and leading on licence and company formation agreements.
Professor Orla Feely, Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact, University College Dublin also received a KTI Award on behalf of UCD in recognition of the university’s support and promotion of knowledge transfer.
KTI was launched in May 2014 and is operated in partnership between Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Universities Association. KTI’s web portal provides companies with easy access to the resources available to them from State-funded research, from expertise to technologies, from intellectual property to facilities and equipment.
(Produced by UCD University Relations)
