New technologies in the area of bioscience and ICT were recognised at the Invention of the Year Awards, sponsored by Purdy Lucey, at gatewayUCC in Cork on Monday.
The Invention of the Year (Bioscience) prize was scooped by Dr Catherine Stanton and her team for their Healthy Heart probiotic bacterial strain, that has cardio-protective properties and is proven to reduce cholesterol by 53% within 12 weeks of consumption. The research is a result of collaboration between Teagasc, UCC Microbiology and the Centre for Research in Vascular Biology at UCC.
The ICT Invention of the Year Award was presented to a team of researchers from Sustainable Energy Research Group (SERG) at UCC including Dr Dominic O’Sullivan, Dr Marcus Keane, Ken Bruton and Dr Paul Raftery. Their AHU Fault Finder software finds its application in large industrial facilities, where it will automatically identify faults in air handling units (AHUs) which can cost organisations significant time, money and resources to detect. The inventors are already in negotiations regarding licensing the technology, which has attracted interest from the USA, and are currently in the process of setting up a spin-out company to commercialise the product.
The Invention of the Year competition is a key element of the UCC Annual Research Commercialisation Awards, sponsored by Ronan Daly Jermyn, at which 12 new licences for cutting edge technology in the fields of biosciences and ICT were also announced.
Indigenous organisations such as Kerry Group, Carbery, and Nualight as well as global organisations such as Intel were among the organisations licensing technologies from UCC.
"The ongoing research and commercialisation is world-class" said Dr Tim Roche, technology transfer officer UCC, "and this is evidenced today by the well-known companies licensing technology from the many innovation centres on campus at UCC, from gatewayUCC, the Tyndall Institute and the BioInnovation Centre among others. These awards are a celebration of the achievements of UCC in the innovation and commercialisation agenda."
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