Ikon Semiconductor, a Bank of Ireland seed and early stage equity fund portfolio company, has entered into one of Enterprise Ireland's ‘innovation partnerships' with the University of Limerick (UL).
This Enterprise Ireland-funded research collaboration is expected to develop digitally controlled integrated circuits for LED lighting solutions.
As many governments around the world work to phase out incandescent lighting following the EU ban on the manufacture of 60W incandescent light bulbs in September, Ikon is focused on the residential and commercial LED bulb replacement market which is expected to grow from 80 million units in 2011 to 430 million units by 2013.
The partnership will see experienced UL post-doctorate researchers dedicated to the research program for the next 18 months. Dr Mark Halton, principle investigator on the project and based at the Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering (ECE) at University of Limerick, said: "This is an excellent example of University-industry collaboration that will result in the commercialisation of research outputs for the benefit of the Irish economy; it is a very exciting development for us."
Orla Rimmington, operations director, kernel Capital, said: "Innovation is the key driver for growth and job creation for Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital investee companies. We are very pleased by this new and exciting research collaboration between Ikon Semiconductor and the University of Limerick which is an existing investor in Kernel Capital."
Conor McAuliffe, CEO, Ikon Semiconductor, said: "We are delighted to embark on a collaborative Enterprise Ireland-funded innovation partnership project with the University of Limerick. We see significant benefits in collaborations such as this that will open up valuable commercial opportunities in this rapidly growing global market."
TechCentral Reporters
PIctured (l-r): Dr Mark Dalton, Dept of Electronics and Computer Engineering, UL; Conor McAuliffe, Ikon Semiconductor; Orla Rimmington, Kernel Capital