1st May 2019
Disruptive Technologies Innovation Funding worth over €20 Million at Tyndall National Institute
Cork, Ireland, 01 May 2019 Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys visited Tyndall National Institute today (Wednesday) to see first-hand the four Disruptive Technology Innovation Fund (DTIF) projects worth over €20 million that Tyndall and its partners will pursue over the next three years and to welcome other significant funding wins at one of Europe’s leading technology research Institutes.
Tyndall’s recent successes in securing multi-million euro funding from EU programmes and international industry, as well as significant competitively won national funding awards, is driving growth at the Institute with recruitment of up to 100 new research posts in the coming year.
Speaking from Tyndall National Institute, Minister Heather Humphreys said
“The Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF) is a key part of both Project Ireland 2040 and the Government’s new Future Jobs Ireland initiative. It is one of the first funds of its kind in the World and it will ensure that Ireland is at the cutting edge in terms of developing new technologies which will change the way we live and work in the future.
“I congratulate Tyndall National Institute and its industry and other partners on their success under the first ever DTIF Call. The fact that four of the twenty-seven successful projects have Tyndall involvement is a clear indication of the quality, novelty and industry-relevance of the research conducted at Tyndall.
“The Government recognises the valuable role that Tyndall is playing in developing game-changing technology that improves our lives and also ensures that Ireland is highly competitive and well positioned in securing the jobs of the future.”
Tyndall, a research flagship of University College Cork, has been highly successful in securing Disruptive Technology Innovation Funding (DTIF). The Institute is leading three key DTIF projects worth in excess of €14.4 million in areas of connected health (HOLISTICS), photonics manufacturing (PHOTONICS) and blockchain energy trading (CENTS) and is a strategic partner in a medtech project (AURIGEN). These projects involve industry partners and research and academic centres, and continue to position Ireland as a global leader in ICT.
“Tyndall’s work is at the forefront of globally significant research and innovation. Through funding from Government, we are maximising our research potential and driving true disruptive innovation with real societal impact, across human health, environment and technology. We extend a warm welcome to the Minister today, and value the commitment to Tyndall in the Government’s Project Ireland 2040 strategy,” said Prof. William Scanlon, CEO Tyndall National Institute.
Tyndall continues to build on its success as an internationally leading technology innovation hub, and as a key driver of new technology and talent development for Irish industry. This is reflected strongly by the acquisitions of its start-up companies in the last 2 years – InfiniLED by Facebook and SensL Technologies by ON-Semiconductor.
In addition to its current staff expansion, Tyndall is also advancing plans to substantially expand the footprint of the Institute, which has been highlighted as an investment priority within the Government’s Project Ireland 2040 in order to maintain its position as a leading centre of scale in translational research and continued development of ICT-related innovation in Ireland.
ENDS
Captioned Photography by Provision will be sent to the picture desk.
For media enquiries, please contact Ursula Morrish, Marketing and Communications Manager, Tyndall National Institute m +353 85 2372189
NOTES TO EDITOR:
About Tyndall National Institute
Tyndall is a leading European research centre in integrated ICT (Information and Communications Technology) materials, devices and systems. It is one of Ireland’s five National Labs, specialising in both electronics and photonics. Tyndall works with industry and academia to transform research into products in its core market areas of electronics, communications, energy, health, agri-tech & the environment. With a network of over 200 industry partners and customers worldwide, they are focused on delivering human and economic impact from excellence in research. A research flagship of University College Cork, Tyndall employs over 500 researchers, engineers and support staff across 52 nationalities, including a cohort of 120 full time graduate students.
About the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund
The Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund is a €500 million fund established under Project Ireland 2040 and is run by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation with administrative support from Enterprise Ireland. Disruptive technology is that which has the potential to significantly alter markets and their functioning and significantly alter the way that businesses operate. While it involves a new product or process, it can also involve the emergence of a new business model. Disruption is about the combination of technology and business model innovation. The Fund is designed 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.
Further to the first call under the Fund, 27 projects were approved for funding with many led by start-ups and SMEs. The successful projects will receive over €70 million to 2021; and represent the health, food, ICT and manufacturing sectors in Ireland. Details of the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund are available at: dbei.gov.ie/DTIF
HOLISTICS
HOLISTICS - Holistic Human Sensing for Health, Aging and Wellness
DTIF Funding Sought to 2021: €7.4m
Partners: 13 partners
Brendan O’Flynn (Lead) Tyndall National Institute, DABL, PMD Solutions, De Royal, Setanta, UCC Lero, Sanmina, Design Partners, VRAI, Henkel, ADI, HRB CRF-C, UCC Insight
Digital health will deeply impact future medical technology products and services. IT and digital technologies will increasingly connect all healthcare sectors, and Big Data analytics will merge “In Vitro Diagnostics” (IVD) and imaging data of patients with data from their smart wearable personal daily body sensor data. This convergence will create new opportunities and challenges.
HOLISTICS will facilitate the development of new service-based rather than product-based business models, in the healthcare sector. These business models will be enabled through innovative digital technologies such as those providing evidence of therapeutic efficacy as a basis for “value-based” reimbursement in the healthcare sector.
HOLISTICS will enable the Irish healthcare partner companies to accelerate the creation and commercialization of a range of disruptive and innovative human-centric wearable product platforms and services for next generation personalised healthcare. The HOLISTICS ecosystem will enable new product development for the Irish Medtech sector in the areas of Respiration Monitoring, Cardiovascular Monitoring, Infection Control and Sports Rehabilitation.
PHOTONICS
Photonics Manufacturing Pilot Line
DTIF Funding Sought to 2021: €4.1m
Partners : Peter O’Brien (Lead) Tyndall National Institute, Ficontec, MBRYONICS, Eblana Photonics, Sanmina Ireland, Faztech
Eblana Photonics are based in Dublin
The project will establish a dedicated and sustainable open-access Photonics Manufacturing Pilot Line, addressing key technological and manufacturing challenges to the second digital revolution, where photonics and microelectronics will be integrated into miniaturised low-energy smart systems. The National Photonics Manufacturing Pilot Line will be built on a strong collaboration between world-class researchers, leading industrial equipment providers, manufacturing experts and product designers, all located in a single state-of-the-art facility to advance disruptive technologies from concept to commercialisation.
The project will develop disruptive technologies that will reduce the cost of photonic packaging by 10-20 times, using highly innovative micro-optic technologies and ultra-fast fiber optic packaging processes. This level of cost reduction is critical to open many mass market applications, avoiding the prohibitively expensive packaging solutions utilised today.
IERC CENTS
Cooperative Energy Trading System (CENTS)
DTIF Funding Sought to 2021: €2.9m
Partners: Brian O’Regan (Lead) International Energy Research Centre, Tyndall National Institute, MPower, MSemicon, Templederry Renewable Energy Supply, UCC, NUIG, DIT
The current electricity system is not flexible or decentralised enough to cope with the expected massive integration of renewables and distributed energy resources over the coming year. In addition, the increasing electrification of transport and heating (i.e. electric vehicles and electric heat pumps) is placing significant demand on already weak and aging electricity distribution infrastructure. The Cooperative Energy Trading System (CENTS) proposes that both individual consumers and their broader communities can generate their own electricity and it will provide a blockchain-based platform for to trade electricity between different communities based on a cooperative model. This would significantly disrupt the Irish electricity market but could co-exist with the current market.
AURIGEN
AuriGen Solution for Persistent Atrial Fibrillation
DTIF Funding Sought to 2021: €5.9 million
Partners: Dr. John Thompson (Lead), Aurigen Medical Ltd, UCC/Tyndall, NUIG (TMD LAB)
Aurigen is based in Galway
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common rhythm disturbance in the US and Europe. AF significantly affects the lives of the afflicted, causing symptoms that range from palpitations to fatigue, weakness and activity intolerance, and substantially increasing the risks of stroke, congestive heart failure, dementia and death. The impact on public health is substantial, with more than 1M hospital admissions in Europe per year and €40 billion in healthcare costs. With the aging of the population an epidemic of atrial fibrillation is predicted in the next decade with 6-12 million people projected to be affected by the year 2050 in the United States, and 17.9 million in Europe by 2030. Adding to the problems caused by AF is the lack of safe and effective therapies for this rhythm disorder. Pharmacotherapy for AF has a long history of poor efficacy and potentially lethal side effects. Ablation strategies are making inroads in paroxysmal AF, but they are long, difficult procedures with less than optimal success rates and too frequent adverse events. Our consortium has established an entirely new approach for AF therapy using an implantable cardiac device incorporating a unique bio-photonic sensor and non-thermal ablation electrode.
The consortium of AuriGen Medical, the TMD lab and Tyndall have unique experience, expertise and proprietary technologies, which place this group in an unprecedented position to deliver a uniquely effective therapy capable of addressing both the stroke and arrhythmia risk associated with AF. This consortium has been created for the sole purpose of accelerating translational research and overcoming the challenges of medical device innovation. Through this consortium we can both improve R&D productivity while reducing the costs of translating these discoveries into new medical technologies. Together we can develop a revolutionary solution to address the needs of millions of AF patients who resistant to the existing therapeutic interventions.
ENDS
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