Female Scientists Lead the Way With EI Commercialisation Funding
11th August 2020
Enterprise Ireland announced it has awarded €1.3m to three projects through its Commercialisation Fund. Each project will receive over €400k.
The Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Fund provides a mechanism through which researchers can transform their ideas into commercially relevant businesses. Enterprise Ireland has been working with third-level researchers for a decade on their journey as they seek to bring commercially relevant technology out of the lab and into the marketplace.
Commenting on the announcement, Eithne McShane, Senior Commercialisation Specialist with Enterprise Ireland (main picture) said: “The Commercialisation Fund is an avenue for Ireland’s brightest scientists to commercialise their research and bring it to the market. At Enterprise Ireland, we recognise that funding innovation is key to ensuring that the Irish economy remains competitive on the world stage through the creation of technology-based start-up companies and the transfer of innovations developed in Higher Education Institutes and Research Performing Organisations to industry in Ireland.”
The three projects, all of which are led by women, which have been awarded funding are:
Professor Sally-Ann Cryan
•StarMAT Technologies – star-shaped polypeptide materials for biomedical applications, led by Principal Investigator, Professor Sally Ann Cryan, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences;
Associate Professor Aisling Dunne
•Adjuvenate – A platform solution for improved subunit vaccines, led by Principal Investigator, Associate Professor, Aisling Dunne, Trinity College Dublin;
Professor Jane Farrar (centre)*
•Development of gene therapies for common retinal disorders, led by Principal Investigator, Professor Jane Farrar, Trinity College Dublin.
Eithne McShane, of Enterprise Ireland, continued:
We are delighted that the projects which have been awarded funding are all women-led.
“The medical research being undertaken by each of their teams will be looking at issues such as infectious diseases, adult blindness and drug delivery. We have seen in recent months the importance of medical research and look forward to assisting each on their journey to the marketplace with the ultimate goal of improving lives.”
Prior to the awarding of this funding, all three projects also received €15,000 from Enterprise Ireland to conduct commercial feasibility studies.
Previous awardees of the Commercialisation Fund include AudioSourceRE, Cala Medical and Senoptica Technologies. The fund comprises business resources as well as financial support. General information on the Commercialisation Fund and previous projects funded can be found here>>
