A €2m business incubation centre opened today, gatewayUCC, that will create 90 new jobs through the commercialisation and spin-out of advanced research at University College Cork (UCC).
Opened today by Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Minister Batt O’Keeffe TD, gatewayUCC will support the launch of new and knowledge-intensive businesses at a modern new facility located centrally among UCC’s research and academic community. The centre has been developed with funding from UCC and Enterprise Ireland.
gatewayUCC is managed by UCC’s Office of Technology Transfer, and has the capacity to support 15 knowledge-intensive start-ups at any one time.
As well as UCC spin-out companies, gatewayUCC will facilitate the growth of ‘spin-ins’ from other research centres and will promote academic partnerships with industry.
3PRO EnergyWatch
The launch of a new spin-out firm – 3PRO EnergyWatch – has also been announced. 3PRO EnergyWatch has developed a green IT software solution that automates the shutdown and hibernation of a company’s computer systems, resulting in significant cost savings and a lower carbon footprint.
The company has just agreed to a 1,500-user licensing deal with Cork County Council and has a number of other sales prospects in sight. It currently employs seven and plans to increase this to 20 as it grows its business.
3PRO Energy Watch emerged from research at UCC’s Business Information Systems department.
Chief executive Sean Cronin said: “We have benefited strongly from the commercial and business development expertise available through gatewayUCC, which has already enabled us to win new business and plan further growth.
“We selected the gatewayUCC centre for its state-of-the-art facilities, links to the latest research from UCC and the ease of getting our company operational with minimum delay.
“As an export-focused company, having UCC as a knowledge partner greatly enhances our credibility internationally. It will accelerate our growth and keep us at the forefront of energy-saving technologies.”
A dynamic catalyst
UCC president Dr Michael Murphy said: “gatewayUCC will be a dynamic catalyst for innovation and entrepreneurship and a hub for knowledge-intensive activities in UCC’s key research areas of ICT, food, life sciences and pharma.
“It will create competitive advantages for its client companies as they come to market. The demonstration of tangible outputs for the major investments that are made in research is very important. We are achieving this in the formation of companies which will go on collectively to create hundreds of jobs and this will make a significant contribution to Ireland’s economic competitiveness in the future.”
Article courtesy of Bizstartup.ie
