Twenty-four researchers have today completed the third University College Dublin (UCD) Commercialisation Bootcamp, delivered over the last five weeks at NovaUCD, the Centre for New Ventures and Entrepreneurs.
The participants on the this Bootcamp, represented a total of 14 potential commercial opportunities, emerging from research programmes currently taking place at UCD and the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), a recognised college of UCD.
Among the participants were Clare Davidson and Eleanor Dunn, PhD students in the UCD School of Electrical, Electronic & Communications Engineering under the supervision of Dr Madeleine Lowery. They took part on the Bootcamp to further develop commercial ideas focused on improving deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson’s disease.
Despite the extensive successes of DBS for treating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease it is still, in some cases, associated with significant side effects and a progressive loss of benefit. Furthermore, the short battery life of the implanted device requires surgical intervention to exchange it every three or four years.
In addition, they are developing a built-in method of operation which reduces device battery consumption, thus extending the period of device use before surgery is required.
This new solution will be an improvement of current models based on time, cost and clinical outcome.
The objective of the UCD Commercialisation Bootcamp, which runs twice a year, is to strengthen the pipeline of commercial opportunities arising from UCD and NCAD research programmes, by equipping participating academic researchers, staff and postgraduate research students with the knowledge, skills and understanding of the commercialisation process.
On completion of the Bootcamp participants have developed a solid awareness of what it takes to build a commercialisation plan around their research outputs. To be eligible to take part on the Bootcamp participants need to have a specific piece of research or technology which they believe is suitable for commercialisation and which can benefit from the support provided by taking part on the Bootcamp.
Speaking at the end of the third Bootcamp, Brendan Cremen, UCD Director of Enterprise & Commercialisation, said: “Once again there was a strong demand to participate on this Bootcamp which indicates the high-level of interest of UCD and NCAD researchers in the commercialisation process and the translation of their research outputs into products and services which can impact the economy and society.”
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