SCIENCE FOUNDATION IRELAND ANNUAL REPORT 2015 29
In the past year , two new companies have been spun out and there have been over twenty licensing agreements signed . The SFI Research Centres have also provided skilled personnel to industry with over 20 % of Research Centre trainees moving to industry as a first destination .
Gajo Ltd is a new spin-out from ADAPT and Dublin City University . Headed up by Dr Deirdre Hogan , Gajo was registered in 2015 and shortly afterwards licensed the Gajo Social Media sentiment analysis technology from ADAPT at DCU .
Exceedence Ltd was officially spun-out from MaREI in 2015 to provide software and expert services in the renewable energy sector .
ADAPT has completed a license with FBD on their “ Sherlock ” fraud detection software generating revenue of € 100,000 .
IPIC is partnering with Stryker R & D design and development experts in Cork to apply photonics technologies to develop next-generation smart surgical tools that enable faster , simpler , and novel procedures to improve patient outcomes .
Attraction of International Funding
The 12 Research Centres are acting as international beacons for attracting talent and leveraging non- Exchequer funding with particular emphasis on Horizon 2020 . The Research Centres are exceeding targets on ERC awards and are leading and participating in H2020 consortia . In addition , funding has been secured from the Wellcome Trust , the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation and other philanthropic sources . In 2015 , € 44 million was drawn down from international funding agencies . Two international partnerships between SFI Research Centres and Engineering Research Centres funded by the US National Science Foundation were awarded in 2015 , representing an additional investment of € 2 million from Science Foundation Ireland and a matching investment from the National Science Foundation along with significant funding from the Department of Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland . These EU and international collaborations are enabling the transfer of students and postdoctoral researchers and the exchange of ideas and expertise .
In 2015 , CÚRAM was awarded five European Research Council ( ERC ) grants securing € 7 million total funding .
In 2015 , iCRAG has secured over € 1.3 million in funding from H2020 .
Under the US-Ireland partnership programme , two awards were made to Connect / IPIC and SSPC to support collaborations between Engineering Research Centres in the USA . This has facilitated projects between the Centre for Integrated Access Networks in the University of Arizona , CONNECT and IPIC and the Computer Science Research Institute ( CSRI ) at the University of Ulster and between SSPC , the Centre for Structured Organic Particulate Systems ( CSOPS ) at Rutgers University and the Centre of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Queen ’ s University , Belfast .
Enhancing Ireland ’ s International Reputation
SFI Research Centres are enhancing the international reputation and profile of Ireland which is in turn attracting the interest of industry to invest in Ireland .
A Memorandum of Understanding with the US National Science Foundation ( NSF ) was extended to facilitate collaborative projects between Engineering Research Centres ( ERCs ) in the US and SFI Research Centres in Ireland .
The International Energy Agency ( IEA ) elected MaREI ’ s director , Prof Jerry D . Murphy as Leader of the IEA Task ‘ Energy from Biogas ’.
Professor Michael Coey from AMBER was awarded the prestigious Gutenberg prize in 2015 by the Cercle Gutenberg which comprises of Nobel Laureates and Members of the French , and other Academies of Science based in Alsace .
The first annual SSPC-PMTC Process Analytical Technology ( PAT ) conference , was hosted by SSPC and Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Technology Centre ( PMTC ) at the University of Limerick in June 2015 which was attended by world leading academic and industrial pharmaceutical scientists .
Prof Paul Ross , Principal Investigator in APC has been included in the 2015 Thomson Reuters “ World ’ s Most Influential Minds ” list .
Prof Brian Caulfield , Principal Investigator in Insight won the 2015 Google Wearables in Healthcare Pilot Challenge which took place at Google ‘ s Cambridge headquarters , in Massachusetts , USA .
Amber was awarded over € 8 million in funding from the European Research Council through six awards including Starting , Consolidator and Proofof-Concept grants .