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Science Foundation Ireland has revealed the 37 research projects receiving funding as part of a €4.6m commercialisation drive.
Nearly 50 positions will be supported through the provision of 37 research projects now backed by Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) latest funding initiative.
The organisation is putting €4.6m into a commercialisation drive, with the SFI Technology Innovation Development Award (TIDA) programme still going strong since its birth in 2009.
Research funding
TIDA provides project development funding and training in entrepreneurship skills to support researchers in exploring commercial opportunities for their projects.
The 37 projects were funded through nine research bodies: NUI Galway (eight), Tyndall National Institute (one), University College Cork (three), Cork Institute of Technology (one), Trinity (11), Dublin City University (three), Dublin Institute of Technology (one), University College Dublin (seven) and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (two).
Five are first-time recipients of competitively awarded research funding, three of whom are based at Trinity.
Gráinne Cunniffe is looking at the development of novel 3D-bioprinting technology to develop a product for cartilage regeneration, in an effort to cure osteoarthritis.
Aleksandra Kaszubowska-Anandarajah is researching novel transmitters for use in optical communication networks, to address the increasing demands placed on communications infrastructures, from consumer access to multimedia content.
Finn Purcell-Milton is working on a device that can be used to concentrate the sun’s energy onto a solar cell, allowing for effective conversion of the sun’s light into electricity.
Sensors
Meanwhile, CIT’s Anne-Marie McCarthy will collaborate with clinicians at Cork University Hospital in the development of a low-cost multimodal imaging sensor, to enable improved diagnosis of skin cancer.
DIT’s Toufic El Arnaout is attempting to construct a next-generation monitoring probe for analysing particles in real time, for applications in the pharmaceutical industry.
“SFI is committed to investing in the translation of world-class research from the laboratory to market,” said Prof Mark Ferguson, director general of SFI.
“We regularly see high-quality research discoveries that are likely to have strong economic impact potential. A key objective for SFI is to increase the number of these discoveries that secure follow-on public or private investment.”
