An Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar TD, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD and the Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation Dara Calleary TD today announced that 11 innovative projects have been approved for funding in the first tranche of awards under the fourth round of the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund.

UCD is a partner in two of the 11 projects which together have been approved for funding of up to €40 million over the next three years. The UCD partner projects are receiving a total of €5.6 million in funding.

An Tánaiste Leo Varadkar TD said: “Today I have approved funding under the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund for another 11 ground-breaking projects that embody innovation and technological change. Now more than ever we should look to the future and embrace innovation as a means of building our capacity to conquer the challenges we face.”

He added: “DTIF project partners continue to develop cutting-edge technologies and we will continue to invest in those enterprises and experts in the research community who apply innovative thinking to push boundaries and drive change.”

Professor Orla Feely, UCD Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact, said: “Congratulations to UCD researchers, Professor Patricia Maguire and Associate Professor Siobhán McClean, who are partnering in the successfully funded Thorax and EncOVac disruptive projects respectively. The DTIF initiative continues to drive strong collaboration between the research community in the higher education sector and enterprises supporting the development of new technologies and applications to deliver impact. UCD is a firm supporter of this initiative and our success in today’s announcement builds upon our successes in the first three DTIF funding rounds.”

The Thorax project, which is to receive €3.3 million over three years, is focusing on developing an AI-driven patient monitoring platform, combined with a diagnostic test capable of identifying patients at high risk of progression of acute diseases (sepsis/pneumonia).

The members of this project consortium are: Professor Patricia Maguire, UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science; Novus Diagnostics Ltd (lead), Dolmen Design and Innovation Ltd, and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

UCD’s Professor Patricia Maguire said: "I'm delighted to be partnering with Novus Diagnostics and the wider consortium, through the UCD AI Healthcare Hub, to harness the power of artificial intelligence in monitoring critical care patients with suspicion of bacterial respiratory infection."

The EncOVac project, which is set to receive €2.3 million over three  years, is focusing on developing an orally self-administered vaccine technology delivered to intestinal mucosa to better protect against pathogens.

The members of this project consortium are: Associate Professor Siobhan McClean, UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, Poolbeg Pharma (Ireland) Ltd (lead), Anabio Technologies and Trinity College Dublin.    

UCD’s Associate Professor Siobhán McClean, said: “I am pleased to work with the other members of this consortium to bring the antigens my team have identified and developed, closer to the clinic so that together, we can protect people from infectious diseases.”                      

Dr Jeremy Skillington, CEO, Poolbeg Pharma said: “We are grateful for the support of the Irish Government in awarding this funding and delighted to be working with our consortium of high-quality partners in University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin and AnaBio. The funding will support the progression of this exciting oral vaccine platform that has the potential to improve the ways vaccines are manufactured, distributed and administered for the future. We stated at our IPO that, in line with our capital-light model, Poolbeg will be seeking non-dilutive funding and we are happy this DTIF award is our first success.”

The funding announced today brings the total funding awarded under the four DTIF Calls to date to €275 million. The DTIF places a large emphasis on SME participation, to utilise their potential as drivers of disruptive innovation. The 11 successful consortia in this call have 40 partners, of which 58% (23) are SMEs and 10 of which are leading their projects. To date, 153 SMEs have been awarded funding in the four calls to date.

Simon Harris TD, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science said: “This fund reinforces the significant impact research and innovation has on our industrial development and economic prosperity.”

He added: “Ireland continues to lead the world in research excellence, consolidated by our sustained commitment to research, development and innovation. This call includes many of Ireland’s talented and motivated research community which covers a wide range of disciplines. The diversity of these disciplines makes Ireland an attractive place for graduates to find sustainable long-term employment and gives enterprises, particularly SMEs, access to highly skilled talent.”

Dara Calleary TD, Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation congratulating the successful projects said: “Innovation through collaboration is a key part of Ireland’s success now and into the future. The DTIF calls are terrific opportunities for companies and research institutions to harness the potential of disruptive technologies, such as AI, and apply this to real-world problems. The 11 projects announced today demonstrate that such innovation is alive and well within the Irish ecosystem and that collaboration can lead to significant benefits to society as well identifying further opportunities for further growth. This ultimately is good for business and good for the economy and gives Irish enterprise the competitive edge when trading into new markets and an increasingly competitive global environment.”

Over the four calls announced to date, 123 research institutions are participating in 83 projects.

Leo Clancy, CEO, Enterprise Ireland, who administer the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund, said: “The investment offered through DTIF encourages Irish companies of all sizes, multinational companies and academic institutions to explore new opportunities by encouraging them to be more ambitious and pursue strategic research opportunities. It helps clients target investment in innovations in areas of major importance, such as future medical technologies and digitalisation.”