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There were no Irish winners at this year’s EIT Summit awards, but Dublin-based biotech research spin-out BioSimulytics did make it to the final.
Johannes Eiglsperger only joined BioSimulytics last Friday as CTO, but he was on stage today (20 February) at the EIT awards in Brussels to deliver a three-minute elevator pitch for the company.
BioSimulytics is a spin-out of NovaUCD at University College Dublin and it specialises in AI-based software to improve drug development. It was named as a finalist in the EIT Innovation Team awards category very recently, along with two other companies – HIQ-CARB from Germany and Altris AB from Sweden.
While BioSimulytics didn’t scoop an award on this occasion, both its fellow category nominees won accolades. The Innovation Team award went to Altris AB, which focuses on sustainable battery tech.
Meanwhile, HIQ-CARB won the top Public Choice award, chosen by the public as its favourite finalist. The German company produces sustainable nanomaterials for high-performance batteries. Its work aims to help people avail of faster charging for EVs and extend the performance of their battery-powered devices.
BioSimulytics is not walking away entirely empty-handed, however; it received support from the EIT through its Health Mentoring Network, the EIT Digital Innovation Factory and the EIC Accelerator. As well as its Dublin network, the business also works with UCT Prague.
BioSimulytics’ new CTO had the opportunity to mingle with founders, scientists and researchers from all over Europe, including the finalists in other awards categories – the EIT Changemaker, EIT Venture and the aforementioned EIT Public Choice. All finalists were eligible for this last category, which is a wildcard-type award. Finalists hailed from Ireland, Egypt, Spain, France, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Germany and Sweden.
Other winners on the evening included Mohamed Elamir, co-founder of Finnish-based Woamy, a start-up that specialises in cellulose-based biofoams that serve as a sustainable alternative to plastic foams, which pollute the ocean and harm marine life. Elamir, who is from Egypt, won in the Changemaker category.
His co-finalists were Alba Forns, the Spanish co-founder and COO of Climatize, an impact investing platform that aims to assist climate innovators in accessing finance for their projects. Forns holds the accolade for Forbes 30 Under 30 for Social Impact 2023 and she began her entrepreneurship career while still in university.
Axel Rimbaud, from France, of Chilean road-safety organisation MEL was the third finalist in the Changemaker category. The NGO is trying to reduce fatalities on roads by promoting public transport. Rimbaud spoke of losing his girlfriend in a tragic car accident. He won second place in the Public Choice award category.
The winners of the EIT Venture award – for an established company – were Enline, a Portuguese company whose sensorless digital twin tech aims to optimise power transmission asset monitoring, providing insights such as landslide monitoring. It is currently expanding into the US market.
French company inHEART also works in the digital twin space, and was a finalist in Enline’s category but it did not win on the day. The third finalist was hydrogen tech company ReCatalyst from Slovenia. It is aiming to decarbonise the energy and travel sectors using catalyst materials.
There was hopeful news today for two Irish-based women entrepreneurs, Barbara Oliveira and Cristina Purtill, who were both announced as nominees for the European Prize for Women Innovators. Oliveira is co-founder and CCO of Luminate Medical, a Galway-headquartered start-up developing ways to address the side-effects of cancer therapies. Purtill is CEO of Plio Surgical, a start-up that is making implants to treat colorectal surgeries in a minimally invasive manner.
Purtill is nominated in the Women Leadership category, while Oliveira was nominated in the Rising Innovators group. There are 10 finalists in total across all categories, and the winners will be announced at the European Innovation Council’s Research and Innovation summit next month.
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