TU Dublin Celebrates 15 Years of Innovation
On Wednesday, Ireland’s leading Knowledge Transfer Office celebrated 15 years of innovation at Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) and maximising research capabilities to generate over €200m in revenue.
The award-winning Innovation Office is responsible for commercialising intellectual property arising from TU Dublin research, launching 44 spin-outs since 2007, including the hugely successful Kastus®, Micron Agritech and Ocumetra. To celebrate leading TU Dublin innovators and their contribution to the economic life of the region, the University hosted the Impact Innovation Awards in Grangegorman on Wednesday.
Working as a Hub for innovation and technology transfer activities since 2007, TU Dublin Innovation collaborates with students, lecturers and researchers across the University to create tangible outputs from research, business and product ideas. In 2018, TU Dublin also launched Open Labs to remove the barriers facing SMEs and startups in participating in early-stage research and innovation, providing access to University R&D expertise in various disciplines, including Product Prototyping, Virtual & Augmented Reality, Food Innovation, Sustainable Infrastructure and Cyber Security.
Dr Paul Maguire, Head, Innovation & Enterprise, explains that since establishing the University's Innovation Office in 2007, TU Dublin has played a pivotal role in the economic development of the Greater Dublin Region. "Industry engagement is central to our mission at TU Dublin, and we are committed to fostering robust and agile working relationships to deliver impactful economic impacts in our region and beyond. Over the last fifteen years, TU Dublin has collaborated in over 550 industry projects generating over €200m in revenue and over €230m in equity investment."
Dr Paul Maguire, Head, Innovation & Enterprise
Since 2007 TU Dublin Innovation has also delivered:
- 44 TU Dublin Spinouts,
- 226 License Agreements,
- 136 Patent Applications filed,
- 578 Invention Disclosures,
- 35 Patents Granted.
Continuing, Dr Paul Maguire remarked, "Universities are uniquely placed to explore complex problems in society, and the impact of knowledge transfer activities at TU Dublin is evident across our society and in the health and well-being of our people. In celebrating the last 15 years, we have identified researchers, academic leaders and business leaders to receive an Innovation Award in recognition of their significant and impactful contributions to innovation.
The TU Dublin Innovation Awards Winners for 2022 are:
Impact Award - Dr Sive Geoghegan, Gateway Manager at MiCRA-Biodiagnostics
MiCRA-Biodiagnostics is an industry-led research & development facility located in TU Dublin's Tallaght campus. The facility's work is supported by Enterprise Ireland's Technology Gateways programme and is funded through industrial collaboration. The facility has a strong and growing portfolio of applied research, making knowledge and expertise accessible to local and national industries.
Impact Award - John Walsh, Assistant Head of School, TU Dublin School of Creative Arts and Founder of TU Dublin CreateLAB
CreateLab is an initiative of the Innovation Office in TU Dublin, in partnership with the Schools of Art and Design and Mechanical Engineering, supporting industry through design and development of new products and the creation of Intellectual Property. CreateLab has extensive Product Design and Development expertise in Design Research, Ideation, Concept Development, User-Centred Design, Product Development, Design Engineering, Prototyping, 3D Printing, CAD, and Design for Manufacture. Through CreateLab, clients can also access excellent prototyping and workshop facilities.
One to Watch (Shared)
Anastasia Negru - Founder and CEO at Margins Ai
Prof. John D. Kelleher Academic Leader at ICE Institute and Co-Principal Investigator at SFI Centre for Research Training D-REAL
Margins Ai is a TU Dublin spin-out developing a B2B plug-and-play AI solution that predicts optimal pricing in the context of competitor activity, market dynamics, seasonality and consumer behaviour, addressing the competitiveness of the SMEs in the E-commerce sector.
Achiever of the Year (Shared)
Prof. James Loughman, Founding Director and Chief Executive Officer at Ocumetra
Prof. Ian Flitcroft, Founding Director and Chief Innovation Officer at Ocumetra
Ocumetra Ltd delivers personalised myopia care solutions and vital decision support to practitioners through its pioneering monitoring tool, Refractogram, which can distinguish between normal and abnormal (myopic) eye growth. The company spun out on technology developed by the Centre for Eye Research Ireland (CERI) based in TU Dublin. A prototype of the Refractogram monitoring tool has already been developed, and the company achieved Enterprise Ireland HPSU status at the end of 2020 – just 6 months after its foundation. As a result, leading multinational healthcare companies are now contracting Ocumetra Ltd to develop customised products to suit their business needs.