Technological innovation is alive and well in Ireland, writes CLAIRE O'CONNELL

THEFT-THWARTING holograms, energy-efficient LEDs, a medical device that gets up close and very personal with your skin and even saintly bacteria that turn waste plastic into eco-friendly materials – these are just some of the “big ideas” to be showcased at an event in Dublin next Tuesday.

One of those ideas, all of which grew out of research supported by Enterprise Ireland’s commercialisation fund, started life as a humidity sensor but has turned into an ultra-secure hologram to baffle potential copycats.

Most of the authenticating “surface” holograms we see on credit cards, pharmaceutical labels and paper money pose little challenge to counterfeiters and can be copied in 39 hours, says Brendan Ring, commercialisation manager of the Hothouse at Dublin Institute of Technology.

Instead, the Industrial and Engineering Optics Research Centre at DIT has developed a “volume” hologram that is made using a reflected laser on light-sensitive plastic. The refractive index created by reflecting the laser makes the hologram harder to copy, explains Ring.

It’s not the first hologram to use the reflection trick, but the nature of the light-sensitive plastic also sets this approach apart, he notes.

“Another security feature is that the photopolymer is sensitive to humidity, so when you blow on it or wipe it with a damp cloth, it changes colour, which makes it easy to verify.”

The technology, which is being commercialised through college spin-out Active Holographics, will first target the pharmaceutical market, where the pressure is on to combat the rise of potentially life-threatening counterfeit medicines, says Ring.

Another idea in the spotlight next week is a light-emitting diode (LED) that could slash the energy consumption, weight and cost of consumer electronics and medical devices.

“With the vast majority of standard LEDs, a lot of energy is wasted,” explains Dr Bill Henry from Tyndall National Institute in Cork. “We have produced a new LED that is up to 1,000 times smaller than a standard LED and we are using that to focus on applications where power efficiency is of utmost importance.”

The micro-LED has a built-in reflector that channels the light close to the source, meaning that little light spills out beyond the area of interest, explains Henry.

The approach could feed into a 500-million market spanning the areas of security, cosmetics, consumer electronics, displays, diagnostics and the life sciences, and they are already working with global brands on a prototype, he adds.

LEDs are also at the heart of an invention from Trinity College Dublin – a hand-held device to scan a person’s skin and provide a detailed image of its surface and pigmentation. Zooming in on your wrinkles and blemishes on a computer screen may not be everyone’s idea of fun, but it can provide doctors and patients with important information, says Dr Guido Mariotto.

The device shines visible light on a person’s skin and builds up an image of the skins topology, including wrinkles and pores, as well as pigmentation from sun damage and birthmarks.

“The visualisation helps the physician choose the right treatment for the condition,” explains Mariotto. “And it involves the client or patient in the treatment so they can have hard proof of the treatment and see it is working.”

The portable device is to be commercialised by a new company, Miravex Ltd, and is aimed at the non-invasive aesthetic medicine market, as well as dermatology.

Meanwhile, research at University College Dublin has been looking at another big picture issue, pollution – and has developed a system that allows bacteria to “eat” treated waste plastic and turn it into something useful and environmentally friendly.

“We recognised that there is a low rate of plastic recycling worldwide, partly due to the limited technologies out there, and also because when you recycle plastic you end up with a pretty low value product,” says Dr Kevin O’Connor, “so we wanted to develop a technology that would address that question of making something more valuable.”

The resulting technology involves heating plastic in the absence of air then feeding it to carefully selected bacteria.

The bugs convert and store the plastic, which can then be pulled out and used in a number of applications, such as food packaging and even biomedicine, because it is now biodegradable, explains O’Connor, who is commercialising the fledgling technology through spin-out company Bioplastech.

The approach doesn’t need to genetically modify the bacteria nor is there any sting in the tail. After the new plastic has been used it can then be composted, adds O’Connor, who suggests the technology could spur big changes in the way we look at plastic waste.

“It can provide a driving force to recycle plastic and that should push the rate of recycling up and create more innovative jobs,” says O’Connor.

“Recycling companies can become more high tech rather than handling and exporting, and that’s an important shift in mindset.”

The Big Ideas Showcase, organised by Enterprise Ireland, runs at Croke Park next Tuesday, October 13th, and will highlight the commercial opportunities emerging from Ireland’s higher education institutes.