Five groundbreaking projects in Galway have been granted nearly €16 million in funding from the first Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund.
An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys revealed 27 innovative projects who are sharing over €75 million in funding on Monday.
Aurigen Medical, a medtech startup that came out of NUI Galway’s BioInnovate programme, has been granted €5.9 million to complete development of their heart implant.
The cardiac implant will be used to help patients with irregular heartbeats by helping to treat blood clots that can cause both strokes and heart failure.
MBryonics, headquartered on the Shantalla road, is one of the partners in a €4.1 million project to develop a Photonic Packaging Pilot Line, developing cost effective process and manufacturing hundreds of units.
MBryonics is a small company of engineers, scientists, and designers specialising in photonics, working with light on a wide range of high-tech applications.
Neurent Medical has been awarded €2.8 million for the ARDENT II, a new therapy for patients suffering from rhinitis.
This will give the patient immediate and long-lasting relief from their symptoms and remove the need to take daily medication to manage their condition.
Rhinitis is an inflammatory disease of the nose that is estimate to affect up to 40% of the population.
Rather than drugs or surgery, Neurent’s new treatment is a handheld radio device inserted into the nasal cavity, which will deliver targeted energy to reverse the inflammation of mucous tissue.
Stignum Surgical and Anecto laboratory will receive €1.9 million for the BioHealx, a bioabsorbable implant to treat anal fistula and reduce surgical complexity.
And lastly AtriAN Medical has won €1.1 million to help treat Atrial Fibrillation with technology that will dramatically improve on current treatments.
It uses pulses of electrical energy to target and destroy the cells on the outside of the heart where the arrhythmia originates without damaging the heart muscle.
Announcing the funding Leo Varadkar said “The creation of this fund is particularly timely when we consider the vast and rapid technological advancements that are taking place.”
“Today everything is faster, more efficient, and more easily accessible. We must adapt to a future of greater digitalisation and automation. Today’s school children will be employed in jobs and industries that don’t exist yet.”
Projects from sectors like life sciences, medical devices, ICT, manufacturing, food, agriculture, energy sustainability and the creative industries made successful applications for this first round of funding.
All include collaborations between start-ups, SMEs, multinationals and academic institutions, though every project involves at least one SME.
Over the next 10 years half a billion will be allocated through the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund, which is part of Project Ireland 2040.
The fund is part of the ‘Future Jobs’ initiative which aims to to secure the jobs of the future for Ireland.
Minister Humphreys said, “This Fund is about ensuring that Ireland can stay ahead of the game to secure the jobs of the future.”
A recent OECD study found that the average Irish worker has a 46 percent chance of their job becoming automated by the 2030s.
“Disruptive technologies will significantly change the way that we work and live and we need to embrace the changes coming our way,” Minister Hunphreys warned.
Update: The list of projects which received funding on the Department of Business, Enterprise, and Innovation website incorrectly listed AtriAN Medical as a Dublin company
