INNOVATION AWARDS:We look at the shortlisted Irish TimesInterTradeIreland Awards entrants in application of RD, green-tech and organisational system and process, writes BARRY McCALL
THE SHORTLIST for this year's Irish TimesInterTradeIreland Innovation awards features 18 entries from established innovators, start-ups, public sector organisations and third-level spin-outs.
More than 430 initial registrations were received for this year’s competition, with 155 making it to the preliminary round. Of these, 128 detailed entries were reviewed by an initial panel of judges.
The entries were judged on five weighted criteria, with scoring for proven originality, market/user impact, project management and sustainability or barriers to entry by competitors. The initial judges created a shortlist of 18, three in each category. The winners will be announced at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin on Tuesday, February 28th.
APPLICATION OF RD
X-Bolt Othopaedics
A new medical device invented by Dr Brian Thornes and his team at X-Bolt Orthopaedics will improve the efficacy of current hip fracture treatment and has the potential to reduce the requirement for very costly and often devastating repeat surgery.
The X-Bolt is an expanding bolt device for use in bone fixation in osteoporotic hip fractures. Traditional internal fixation uses bone screws that depend on the hold of the screw threads. The X-Bolt can be likened to a masonry or plasterboard rawl-plug bolt that expands to anchor within the bone, and thus gives a much stronger hold and rotational stability.
Dr Thornes is an orthopaedic surgeon with one successful invention already behind him. The “tightrope” is used in ankle repair surgery and among its more famous recipients is Welsh rugby player Gavin Henson.
Some 2,500 hip fractures are fixed annually in Ireland, mostly in the elderly. Around 5 per cent will require a second operation owing to loss of screw fixation or cut-out. The additional costs associated with cut-out from the additional surgery and prolonged hospital stay are estimated at €4 million per annum in Ireland.
“I got the idea for the X-Bolt when I was putting up my plasma TV on the wall of my apartment a few years ago,” says Thornes. “You needed expanding rawl plugs to fix it to the plasterboard wall. Many elderly people’s bones are soft and crumbly. This makes them similar to plasterboard in consistency and causes fixation problems for traditional screws. I set up the company in 2007 and spent the next few years on its research and development.”
The X-Bolt has been granted a European patent and is patent-pending in the US. Biomechanical data from testing performed in Trinity College Dublin, the University of Limerick, Tallaght IT and Queens University Belfast has allowed regulatory approval by British Standards Institute (BSI) to award the CE Mark for the device and instrument sets for clinical use.
The first patient was successfully treated with the X-Bolt in November of 2011 and it is expected that at least 25 per cent of Irish acute hospitals will stock the X-Bolt by mid-2012.
The next steps will see the X-Bolt undergoing clinical studies in Ireland, in order to publish in medical literature. It hopes to commence exports to the UK and Europe later this year. Exports to the US are also anticipated once FDA approval is granted.
Cellix
A groundbreaking microfluidics drug screening tool currently being used by over a third of the world’s top 10 pharmaceutical companies has been developed by Irish company Cellix. By operating under continuous blood flow conditions, the Cellix platform simulates the human circulatory system providing researchers with powerful data far beyond that available from the standard lab methods available previously. The Cellix solution also helps eliminate false leads earlier in the process thereby increasing the success rate of clinical trials.
One of the most popular applications for this technology is the evaluation of platelet function with regard to thrombosis. Thrombosis, or blood clotting, is one of the side effects of many drugs and also common following surgical procedures. Anticoagulant and antiplatelet therapies need to be tested in conditions mimicking those found in the body as platelets become activated under flow conditions.
The Cellix Vena8 Fluoro+ biochip was specifically designed for this application. It enables enhanced microscopy which facilitates researchers in creating 3D images of blood clots from a donor’s sample.
“The idea for the microfluidic platform originally came from a collaborative research project in TCD,” says Cellix chief executive Vivienne Williams. “The development of the Vena8 Fluoro+ biochip came about as a result of customer demand. This is because you have to look at platelets under flow and under the same conditions as a vein or an artery.”
Because Cellix’s technology and new Vena8 Fluoro+ biochips use only microfluidic samples volumes, they have resulted in cost savings on reagents, cell samples and drug samples used. Furthermore, because the biochip can provide increased predictivity, it increases efficiency and productivity at the late stage of drug development in aiding the researchers’ decision in terms of which potential drug candidates to put into clinical trials.
Launched in late 2010 the product is now being marketed and sold to biologists studying thrombosis, including those developing new drugs to treat thrombosis, where tools in this space have an estimated market size of between €50 million and €60 million annually.
Wattics
It is estimated that up to 30 per cent of electricity spend in buildings is wasted – a new energy monitoring technology offers companies a low-cost means of reducing this by monitoring energy consumption of individual electrical appliances.
Traditional methods of energy monitoring at the appliance level are costly. According to Wattics, these methods rely on sub-metering, that is deploying additional meters at each appliance. With a total cost of up to €1,000 per meter, few businesses can afford such approach.
Wattics has developed patented technology that replaces this expensive hardware with a single smart meter installed at the organisation's electricity feed. Monitoring the power activity of individual appliances allows bills to be broken down, so equipment can be replaced with more energy efficient models and usage time reduced or moved to lower-cost periods.
The Wattics software power disaggregation technology is based on nonintrusive appliance load monitoring (NALM) developed more than 20 years ago at MIT in the US. The Wattics innovation was driven by the fact that the technology had yet to be commercialised.
"Really good work had been done by the MIT team but the hardware was not available at the time to make the technology commercially feasible," says Anthony Schoofs, chief technical officer with Wattics. "Now there are plenty of manufacturers providing portable electricity meters at low cost."
The system was trialed in Jurys Custom House Inn early in 2011, with 25 per cent energy reductions being achieved on the hotel's air handling units. It had been believed the disaggregation of electricity consumption was not achievable in real-world settings. However, this trial proved that accurate power consumption and cost reports can be produced; demonstrated that energy saving can be triggered using broken-down electricity bills; and helped complete the development of Wattics' low-cost, plug-and-play commercially viable version of the system.
As a result, this technology was awarded the Globe Sustainability Research Award 2011, an international award that recognises and encourages excellence in sustainability.
The Wattics technology was officially showcased for the first time at the Enterprise Ireland Big Idea event on October 2011. The company has secured a number of Irish customers including Jurys Inn, the K Club, the OPW and CleanTech, as well as Mandat International in Geneva. The company is self-financing and aims to establish marketing partnership with leading international energy management companies later this year. It also intends to develop gas and water management versions of the technology.
GREEN-TECH
Cynar Recycling
Virtually indestructible by most environmentally acceptable means, the disposal of end-of-life plastic (ELP) has long presented a major headache for the waste industry. The volume of ELP produced continues to grow yet most of it still finds its final destination in landfill.
However, waste plastic contains reasonable quantities of valuable hydrocarbons while fuel demand continues to increase. Cynar Recycling identified an urgent need for a solution to this dilemma.
Cynar Recycling's solution involved the creation of commercially viable technology to convert the ELP into diesel that would meet demanding EU specifications. The Cynar process can handle a variety of plastic types and produces synthetic fuels. A ready wholesale market exists and the company is currently selling the output from the process to fuel users.
The technology can produce an on-spec European diesel product from every tonne of suitable plastic. Each Cynar plant can process up to 20 tonnes of ELP per day, producing around 19,000 litres of high-quality liquid fuel.
The technology was first demonstrated at a purpose-built plant in Portlaoise. As a result of having the only full-scale demonstration plant in Europe the company was shortlisted as a supplier by Suez Environmental, one of Europe's premier recycling organisations. Cynar subsequently agreed an exclusive contract with SITA UK/Suez for a total of 10 plants.
The Cynar vision is to be the global leader in the profitable conversion of ELP into usable fuels and its 10-year plan envisages the development of up to 200 plants in major European and North American markets.
Waste Systems
Increasingly stringent waste and recycling regulations were the stimulus behind the development of two products for the waste separation and recycling industry by Northern Ireland firm Waste Systems Ltd. Flex X Tract and Max X Tract use a combination of air pressure and vibration to sort different materials.
"A lot of waste was being dumped because there was no way to separate it," explains Waste Systems director Patrick Ward. "These machines fluidise the waste, allowing lighter material to rise to the top."
This stratification of material means size no longer presents a problem and material previously too small to separate can be sorted automatically. "Waste contractors could be dumping anything up to 45 per cent of the waste that comes to them. This product offers a means to reduce that."
The compact unit can process 50 tonnes per hour of demolition waste and, with some modification, 30 tonnes per hour of industrial waste. It can be skid or track mounted to suit and can incorporate on-board generators to be self-contained.
"Previously, most of the material we separate was considered waste and untreatable," says Walsh. "Our separation techniques allow this material to be processed and separated efficiently. Our turnover has doubled year on year and the products are now selling at far higher levels than expected. We expect a turnover of £10 million within the next four years.
"The products have been extremely popular and more than 50 per cent of sales are to the UK, France and North America. We experienced sales growth of 87 per cent in year two and have invested more than £200,000 in research and development."
Nemos Horticultural
Wicklow-based Nemos Horticultural claims it has created a fully natural alternative to chemical insecticides. "Our bio-insecticide product, SuperNemos, is more efficient than both a chemical spray and a range of long-established competitive organic products and more cost effective than both," says Nemos founder and director Ciaran Walsh. "Commercial growers can achieve almost zero crop losses using it."
Nemos is derived from the word Nematode – translucent parasitic worms that occur naturally in healthy soil. They are lethal to more than 250 insect pest species, yet safe for animals and plants. Unlike chemicals, or even some biological control agents such as Bacillus thuringiensis, nematode applications do not require masks or other safety equipment. They do not leave residue and do not pollute underground water or rivers. Most biological control agents may require days or weeks to kill the insect pest but once nematodes penetrate, they kill it in just 24 to 48 hours.
As a result they have been used commercially as biological pest control products in horticulture and selected high-value fruit crops such as strawberries since the 1950s. However, until 2006 the prevailing wisdom held that nematode applications as pesticides would give, at best, 40 to 60 per cent crop protection.
This was nowhere near good enough for commercial growers, and nurseries regularly suffered severe crop damage and subsequent financial losses. Although widely used as a chemical alternative, horticultural experts refused to endorse nematode products because of the lack of efficiency and the relatively high cost, when compared to chemical alternatives.
"Dr Abdul Hamid Al-Amidi is the inventor of SuperNemos," says Walsh. "He overcame these problems by combining several different species. This makes the nematodes compete against each other and become far more efficient. The result is the first singular bio-insecticide researched and developed in Ireland. It is also the only bio-insecticide that can target a wide range of insect pests with professionally endorsed efficiency."
SuperNemos claims to have a number of distinct advantages over its chemical counterparts. These include the fact that continuous use of chemicals stunts growth and, within a few years, also destroys the microbial life in the soil. In addition, insects quickly develop resistance to chemical pesticides.
"Our short-term plan for 2012 is to enter the UK market," says Walsh. "We have developed a business plan for the commercial growers market and we have an internet sales strategy. We intend to be selling into the US, Canada, France, Germany and Spain from 2013."
ORG. SYSTEM PROCESS
AmaTech
Every year millions of passports and identity cards are manufactured, incorporating the latest security measures in the form of electronic inlays. These inlays enable contactless communication through radio frequency identification technology (RFID) and allow large amounts of data to be held on a microchip contained inside the card or passport.
However, current methods of creating these inlays are creating problems. "At present they force the electronic components into the paper and this creates inherent tensions," says Dr David Finn, founder and chief executive of AmaTech. "When the paper absorbs moisture it expands and this will cause the connection between components to break."
AmaTech has developed and patented production methods that pioneer the use of laser technology in the electronic inlay production process. ""There is no pressure or heat involved and this means components are not under tension," says Finn.
He says the process has resulted in improvements to the quality, reliability and lifespan of an electronic inlay. In addition, the security of the electronic inlay has been increased as it is now much more difficult to locate the wire and chip in the substrate.
The development of the process was made possible by sponsorship from Enterprise Ireland of €125,000 in the form of an Innovation Partnership with the National Centre for Laser Applications in NUI Galway to complete the research needed.
Currently, the company is in the final stages of completing the machine design work needed to introduce laser technology into the electronic inlay production line in their machine engineering bureau in Germany.
"The process is about to be used in South Korean passports and the market for electronic inlays is undergoing exponential growth as it becomes the technology of choice for use in secure credential documents such as electronic passports, electronic national ID cards and electronic financial payment cards," says Finn.
Nubie.com
Budding entrepreneurs can now find out all they need to know to start their own business in the comfort of their own home, thanks to a new interactive software tool developed by Nubie.com. The nine-step online process brings the user on a journey which, when complete, has the business is up and running.
"Enterprise support usually takes the form of face-to-face mentoring or lengthy start-your-own-business courses," says Nubie.com chief executive Rebekah Brooks. "Nubie.com makes it easy to access relevant information and allows people who are employed to work on their start-up at night and on weekends, when traditional supports are not available."
The interactive nature of Nubie.com makes it comparable to online mentoring. The 19 business apps allow the user to complete complex tasks such as their financial documents – cashflow forecasts, profit and loss statements and so on for a three-year period.
The tool was developed as a result of the experience of the founders, Bryan Clarke and Loughlin Nestor, who were in the process of starting a different business some time ago. "They found that there was no online service to help them establishing the business and that gave them the idea for Nubie," Brooks explains. "Around 20,000 businesses start up in Ireland each year, although the number who aspire to is much higher at 275,000, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. We aim to reach these 275,000 individuals and educate them on what is involved."
Having raised €150,000 in funding, the founders developed the first version of the tool in 2010. "This took people through the first four steps and we realised people were most interested in the actual start-up and funding stages so we redesigned it to meet that need and added the five additional steps. This resulted in a fourfold increase in people registering."
Entrepreneurs can sign up to use the service by paying a one off fee of €49.99 which gives access for one year. In addition, 15 County Enterprise Boards offer the tool at no cost to the start-up business.
"There is currently no other online process such as nubie.com in the marketplace and the 2,000 registrations we've accomplished to date show that there is a great need for our service," says Brooks. "Globally, 300 million people aspire to start their own business. We have just launched in the UK with plans to enter the US and South Africa."
SeaChange
SeaChange provides a performance-based communication system that enables business and organisations to achieve measurable improvements in standard operating procedures.
According to managing director Ger Cummins: "Our aim is to communicate whatever can be written down as a procedure in a more user-friendly and visual way and the most successful of our applications in this regard is in the area of health and safety."
Businesses and organisations are legally required to promote the safety and wellbeing of their employees. The legislation requires them to give health and safety information in a form that is reasonably likely to be understood by the employees concerned
"Even though this is clearly stated and legally expected of employers, the conventional and traditional systems used to communicate best health and safety practices focus on text-rich, confusing safety statements that tick a box and leave nobody any safer as a result," says Cummins.
The SeaChange system works by approaching the issue from the ground up. "We achieve results through engaging with people and inspiring ownership for performance indicators. However motivating it may be, accountability only works if there is a system in place to sustain it, and SeaChange provides the tools and routines to ensure the system takes a life of its own and affects real behaviour change."
The system has delivered impressive results, with users reporting a reduction in lost time accidents of 40 per cent and a reduction in claims of 30 per cent between 2008 and 2010.
The system has been adopted as best practice internationally by Danone and is currently being implemented in Spar stores throughout Ireland. "We are working on the introduction of the system in a project with the Spar symbol owner BWG Foods and their insurer Aviva," says Cummins. "Aviva is paying for the implementation because of its potential to improve safety and reduce claims."
The company's plans for the future include adapting the model for use in different industrial operations such as cleaning, maintenance, changeovers, start-ups and so on. "It is applicable to any area where there are standard operating procedures."
