€40M Invested in Disruptive Technologies Projects
16th November 2022
The government has announced that 11 innovative projects have been approved funding of up to €40 million in the first tranche of awards under the fourth round of the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund.
Announcing the successful projects yesterday (15.11.22), the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar TD, said:
“I have approved funding under the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF) 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.
“Throughout the pandemic, the research community showed a commendable ability to adapt and rise to previously unthinkable challenges. We want to encourage and support that ingenuity and inventiveness through this fund, helping to deal with the adverse effects of COVID-19, Brexit, the war in Ukraine, and rising inflation.
“Projects announced today will benefit patients with heart failure, make online space safer for children and reduce greenhouse gases, paving the way for Ireland’s journey to a carbon neutral society, to name a few. These and other successful projects have identified emerging areas of opportunity in future markets to help solve societal challenges by building on our regional economic and research strengths.
“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.”
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.
One company to receive funding, in the amount of €3.4M, is Xtremedy Medical co-founded by Camille O’Malley and Lyn Markey. Their project, BioBlate, will disrupt the current treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcers and other mixed tissue infections by developing a non-invasive surgical device that delivers a high amplitude of electrical pulses to remove infected muscle and bone tissues, preserving the integrity of the wound bed to promote healing.
Camille O’Malley
On hearing the news, Camille O’Malley said: “Delighted to be named as part of this year’s successful #DTIF projects. Xtremedy Medical has been awarded €3.4M as part of the programme and we’ll work with fantastically talented teams in Design Partners and University of Galway to get this critical, life-changing technology to patients.”
Another company awarded DTIF fundings is Luminate Medical co-founded by Dr Bárbara Oliveira (CTO); Aaron Hannon (CEO) and Prof. Martin O’Halloron.
The consortium includes: Luminate Medical (Lead); Gentian Consultancy Services; National University of Galway (NUIG) and Trinity College Dublin (TCD). They received €4.5M in DTIF funding to support the development of LILAC-IntelliSense – a software system that models a prognosis for Chemotherapy Induced Peripheral Neuropathy (CIPN) based on clinically obtained observations and smart bioinformatics algorithms, improving treatment outcomes while reducing long-term side effects.
Dr Bárbara Oliveira
Luminate said: “Our vision is to build the technology that will eliminate the side effects of cancer treatment. Today, we’re announcing that our product line is expanding with €4.5M in funding to support the development of Lilac: the world’s first wearable device to prevent chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy is one of the most debilitating side effects of cancer treatment, impacting up to 68% of all chemotherapy patients. With this funding, we aim to bring our technology to clinical trials within the next three years”.
Dr. Elaine Spain & Dr. Kellie Adamson
Also receiving funding is Novus Diagnostics (Lead) part of a consortium to include Dolmen Design and Innovation; National University of Ireland, Dublin (UCD) and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). Novus Diagnostics was co-founded by Dr Elaine Spain and Dr Kellie Adamson and will receive €3.3M under the DTIF initiative. The consortium will work together to develop Thorax: 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).
Another project, this time making online space safer for children is Cilter – an AI-driven parental control concept that will modify a phone at the kernel level to access all incoming and outgoing data and encrypt messaging apps. The consortium includes Cilter Technologies (Lead); O’Neill Amarach Consultants, and Dublin City University.
Rena Maycock
Cilter Technologies was founded by Rena Maycock in 2019. On the news, Rena said: “Cilterfilter has been successful in our application for DTIF funding of €2.8M to fully develop our software that will detect/block cyber bullying and grooming content on smartphones. Thanks to our partners, DCU and Amarach Research”.
The total allocation of DTIF funding now sits at €275 million with over €157 million (57%) of that funding awarded to project partners outside of Dublin. This will contribute to further economic growth in all regions and create high-quality jobs for talented people who live and work in rural Ireland.
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.”
You can find out about all 11 projects here.
