Sixteen new high-tech and knowledge-intensive business ventures, involving 34 individuals, have joined NovaUCD’s 2010 entrepreneurship programme. The NovaUCD 2010 Campus Company Development Programme (CCDP), which has just commenced, assists academic and research entrepreneurs at University College Dublin in bringing their innovative ideas from intellectual concepts to fully developed and sound commercial businesses. NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre, is responsible for the commercialisation of intellectual property arising from UCD research programmes.
Now in its fifteenth year 156 new ventures and 235 individuals have completed this programme which is supported by Enterprise Ireland. Former participants now collectively employ over 750 people and companies such as BiancaMed, Celtic Catalysts, Equinome, RendezVu and TopChem have previously taken part in the programme.
Rhona Togher, Eimear O'Carroll & Anthony Carolan, co-founders, Restored Hearing, a participant on NovaUCD's 2010 CCDP
The new ventures and individuals participating on this year's programme are commercialising research undertaken throughout the University, including research in UCD Schools of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine; Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering; Medicine and Medical Science and in UCD's National Folklore Collection, Innovation Research Unit and Urban Institute of Ireland.
Dr Pat Frain, Director, NovaUCD said, “The CCDP is NovaUCD’s main support programme aimed mainly at academic entrepreneurs. It is designed specifically to assist academics and researchers in establishing new ventures to commercialise the innovative ideas arising from their research programmes.” He added, “These ventures will generate new high-tech jobs to add to the over 750 jobs already created by CCDP participants over the years. This aspect of the CCDP is of course critically important for the development of a Smart Economy.”
The CCDP is a nine-month, part-time programme designed to suit the busy timetable of researchers and academics. It offers a mix of monthly workshops, mentoring and one-to-one consultancy. It is delivered by NovaUCD staff, with support from the NovaUCD sponsors, Enterprise Ireland, as well as other outside experts.
The CCDP is designed to assist the entrepreneurs by providing them with the skills necessary to transform their ideas into commercially feasible new ventures. Participants on the programme have the opportunity to access NovaUCD’s desk space and incubation facilities and associated innovation services. The programme culminates with a high profile Awards Evening which this year will be held on 16 November 2010.
Equinome, which earlier this year launched a breakthrough genetic test that can identify the optimum racing distance for individual Thoroughbred horses, was the overall winner of NovaUCD's 2009 CCDP. Dr Emmeline Hill, a leading horse genomics researcher in UCD’s School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, co-founded the company with Jim Bolger, the renowned Irish racehorse trainer and breeder.
ENDS
28 April 2010
For further information contact: Micéal Whelan, NovaUCD, t: +353 1 716 3712 , e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie.
Editors Notes
Examples of Participating New Ventures
Cypro Laboratories is developing technology to identify cybercrime on large Internet networks. Cypro Laboratories offers this software-as-a-service to parties affected by these cybercrimes, resulting in real-time analyses of the scale and distribution of their problem on the Internet. The promoters of Cypro Laboratories are Alan Hannaway, Mark Scanlon and Professor Tahar Kechadi, UCD School of Computer Science and Informatics.
Restored Hearing is a web-based venture which offers a unique online and tailored, minute-long therapy sessions for individuals who suffer from temporary tinnitus. Rhona Togher, an undergraduate student in UCD’s School of Physics is taking part on this year’s CCDP. The other two promoters of Restored Hearing are Eimear O’Carroll and Anthony Carolan.
SustainableMeter is developing technology to provide a real-time web-enabled water flow information system to domestic and industrial water users. The promoters of SustainableMeter are Dr Tom Curran and Miguel Angel Prieto Lage, UCD School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine.
Tetra Materials aims to produce multi-scale tools (centimetre size tools with micro-scale and nano-scale features) from a new family of metals called metallic glasses which will be used in manufacturing high-value polymer and soft metal components. The uniqueness of this technology lies in the fact that metallic glasses, unlike conventional metals, can be patterned at very tiny scales, yet are very strong and show excellent wear and corrosion properties. The promoters of Tetra Materials are Dr David Browne, Dr Cormac Byrne and Dermot Stratton, UCD School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering.
NovaUCD is University College Dublin’s Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre. NovaUCD is responsible for the commercialisation of intellectual property arising from UCD research and for the development of co-operation with industry and business. NovaUCD as a purpose-built centre also nurtures new technology and knowledge-intensive enterprises. NovaUCD has over 40 incubation units, including bio-incubation units, and provides innovators and entrepreneurs with the necessary support and knowledge to take their ideas from proof of principle to commercial success. Twenty-eight knowledge-intensive companies are currently located in NovaUCD. NovaUCD has been funded through a unique public-private partnership that includes AIB Bank, Arthur Cox, Deloitte, Enterprise Ireland, Ericsson, Goodbody Stockbrokers, UCD and Xilinx.
The NovaUCD Campus Company Development Programme (CCDP) is a nine-month, part-time programme designed to suit the busy timetable of researchers and academics. It offers a mix of monthly workshops, mentoring and one-to-one consultancy and is delivered by NovaUCD staff, with support from the NovaUCD sponsors, Enterprise Ireland, as well as other outside experts. It is designed to assist academic entrepreneurs in the establishment and development of knowledge-intensive enterprises by providing the skills necessary to transform their ideas into commercially feasible ventures via the development of a business plan.