Ten New Spin Out Companies Set Up in Trinity College Dublin
Posted on: 10 March 2010
Ten new spin out companies commercialising research carried out at Trinity College Dublin were approved as TCD campus companies during 2009. These companies will exploit the latest technologies in bioscience, physical science and information and communications technology.
Commenting on Trinity’s growth in spin out companies, the Provost, Dr John Hegarty said: “The range of these spin out companies reflects the quality research currently being produced by Trinity researchers. It is through such innovation that entrepreneurial activity is generated with direct benefit to the Irish economy and society. Driving enterprise development that will lead to the creation of sustainable high value jobs is a key strategic goal of the university.”
“The government investment in research and innovation, through Enterprise Ireland’s Technology Transfer Strengthening Initiative (TTSI), has also had a significant impact in the formation of these companies,” added Dr James Callaghan, Associate Director of Trinity Research and Innovation. “The resulting growth of expertise in the Technology Transfer Office, which facilitated the formation of the companies, has enabled greater commercialisation of Trinity’s world-class research achieving in 2009 the highest annual number of spin out companies by the College to date.”
Trinity has also streamlined its policy on evaluating and approving campus companies. “As part of the College’s new Strategic Plan, it is developing an open innovation policy in order to stimulate knowledge transfer and enterprise development further, making the transition from capturing intellectual property to its practical application and use for commercialisation and job creation,” Dr Callaghan concluded.
In 2009, in addition to forming the above campus companies, the TCD Technology Transfer Office received 47 invention disclosures; a total of 116 inventions have been disclosed by Trinity Research and Innovation in the past three years. There were 22 new patent applications filed in 2009 to protect novel intellectual property arising from research taking place throughout Trinity’s schools and research centres. In the past three years a total of 65 priority patent applications were filed. In 2009, 6 licence agreements were concluded by TCD, resulting in a total of 21 over a three year period with a range of companies.
Trinity College Dublin 2009 Spin Out Companies
Solvotrin Many of the world’s most effective and widely-used medicines are acidic and, when taken as tablets, cause damage to the lining of the stomach. In the case of aspirin, the most-prescribed drug in the world, the stomach side-effects may help explain recent US research showing that 1 in 4 people with cardiovascular disease are no longer taking aspirin. Solvotrin has invented a number of technologies which solve this problem. The basis of the technology is a carrier group that promotes hydrolysis along the ideal route, leading to aspirin liberation in human blood and in response to enzymes found in the intestinal wall. Solvotrin will target the €15 billion anti-platelet market segment for its two lead compounds. Academic promoter: Dr. John Gilmer, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science, TCD.
BioCroi The drug discovery market is driven by innovation in new therapies. Identifying unsuitable drug candidates as early as possible and identifying the good actors as quickly and as cheaply as possible is a key goal. BioCroi offers solutions to advance current high-content screening of drug candidates in the drug development laboratory. BioCroi’s PlateMinderTM technology represents a breakthrough in stabilising cell-based assays performed in micro volumes. Academic promoter: Dr. Tony Davies, School of Medicine, TCD.
Miravex produces a hand-held imaging device which can be used in cosmetic medicine providing 3D computer-generated images of a patients’ skin with accompanying data analysis, including pigmentation and colour analysis. These images are analysed using specialised software to accurately measure skin roughness, wrinkles and abrasions prior to any potential surgery. The device can also map the amount of melanin and haemoglobin in the skin which could be used to quantify skin damage or used to monitor other skin conditions. Academic Promoters: Professor Igor Shvets, Dr Guido Mariotto and Dr Roman Kantor, School of Physics.
Kinometrics’ technology product, SureWash, has been designed to improve the quality of hand hygiene among healthcare workers. SureWash is an interactive camera-system that monitors how well healthcare workers wash their hands. Positioned above clinical sinks, the SureWash system compares users’ hand-washing techniques with those recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and by the UK NHS CleanYourHands campaign. Academic Promoter: Dr Gerard Lacey, School of Computer Science and Statistics.
Treocht is developing a web-based system to monitor global events, using print, video and audio sources, and then applying sentiment analysis to Web 2.0 and self-learning systems to deliver a rapid decision support system for financial market predictions. Treocht products will be targeted at the global business Intelligence software market including both private and government sector. Academic Promoters: Professor Khurshid Ahmad, School of Computer Science and Statistics, Professor Colm Kearney, School of Business.
EmpowerTheUser (ETU) EmpowerTheUser specialises in technologies for immersive learning and developmental skills, enabling training providers to build and deliver high impact online learning for a fraction of traditional costs. With fully-developed and extensively-tested technologies, ETU is now finalising initial pilot programmes and raising seed investment. As a member of the Irish Learning Alliance, ETU is also gaining access to global markets to exploit the innovations of its technology. Academic Promoters: Professor Vincent Wade, School of Computer Science and Statistics, Professor Michael Gill, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Professor Brian Fitzmaurice, School of Medicine and Declan Dagger.
ReciTell provides advanced e-learning solutions for both the classroom and individual use. Its first product offerings support the teaching and assessment of reading skills using an approach that evokes traditional methods within an advanced technological environment. Its underpinning technology, which has evolved from research by the Audio and Acoustics Signal Processing Group in Trinity College, provides automation of the audio recording and e-content generation process. The company is preparing for the launch of their first product range. Academic Promoters: Professor Frank Boland, Darren Kavanagh, School of Engineering.
Share Navigator provides professional stock market software, education and support for self directed investors. To date it has developed two software tools. The first tool allows clients to analyse equity on both a fundamental and technical basis. The second tool analyses clients’ portfolio risk category and shows the optimum weighting of risk to reward. Share Navigator also provides a comprehensive educational programme which teaches how to buy and sell shares in the stock market using risk management as the core of your investment strategy. Academic Promoters: Aidan Bodkin, TCD MBA graduate and Stephen Cox, UCD MBA graduate.
Anamates (jointly with UCC) ANAMATES.com provides a simple-to-use, but very powerful web-based, tool which empowers ordinary computer users to create visual animations without having to master high end professional tools, such as Flash. ANAMATES can be used for fun, to add flair to a social networking site, or for more serious users it can create web advertising banners and full presentations. Academic Promoters: Brendan Tangney, School of Computer Science and Statistics, Dr. Mark Tangney (UCC), James Bligh (NDRC), Dr. Chris Collins (St Thomas’ Hospital, London).
Gofer ICT is a mathematics educational software start-up which is developing a new approach to mathematics learning for Irish Leaving Certificate students. The aim of Gofer is to make students become confident, creative users of mathematics. .The material being developed will be ready for testing by students and teachers in Ireland and India later this year, with commercial release planned in 2011. Academic Promoters: Elisabeth Oldham, School of Education, Dr Samik Sen and Professor Siddartha Sen, Fellow Emeritus and former TCD lecturer in mathematics.