SPIN ACTIVE APPLIED STI
StAte agencies, IDA, SFI, Shannon Development, Forfás and the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government are working together with IBeC through a Convergence Council. At a conference held in May, the Council stressed the important role being played by companies involved in the life sciences. Nine of the top ten pharmaceutical giants are located in Ireland, eleven of the top-twelve medical device companies are manufacturing here, and as Julie o‘Neill, deputy head of IBeC, and GM of Gilead Sciences commented, there are big opportunities to combine the interests of these companies in creating new combination products. through the Convergence Council, she said, medical technology, pharmaceutical, ICt, financial services, Clean tech and food and drink companies are collaborating with Ireland”s State agencies.
Convergence
All Island
Support for all-island collaboration in r&D is being offered under the Innova programme. €5 million has been allocated to this Inter trade programme. up to €300,000 in funding will be awarded to 18 collaborative projects covering life and health sciences, polymers, agri-foods, advanced engineering, materials, telecoms, environment and ICt. one of the companies to benefit from cross border collaboration is Biosensia. the company, based in the republic, worked with an NI electronics partner in developing a point of care diagnostics product. Instead of sending samples to the lab, the rapiplex device provides medics with results on location. the portable device can also be used by security personnel to detect illegal drugs. More information at www.intertradeireland.com/innova LLIVEK IN
Dr FIoNA Lyng has been singled out as ‘one to watch’ by enterprise Ireland for her work on a cervical cancer diagnostic system. Dr Lyng is developing this system in collaboration with the radiation and environmental Science Centre at DIt, the Coombe Women and Infrants university Hospital. the research is expected to result in a commercial spin-out to help diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer worldwide. At present, diagnosis depends on examination of smears by a skilled cytologist. Software developed at DIt helps to automate that process, and at the same time adds to the sensitivity of tests.
one to watch
INDuStry is to contribute €4.8 million to top up State funding of €19.5 million for the Centre for telecommunications research, CtVr. the centre is designing the wireless and optical networks of the future. Although based at tCD, CtVr under the direction of prof Linda Doyle involves the collaboration of researchers from six other universities.
telecommunications
Getting down to business
pFIzer’S move out of Shanbally in Cork was not meant the end of production there, and in June, the uS company, BioMarin announced that it had acquired the bulk manufacturing facilities. the $33.9 million investment by BioMarin is linked to a number of new products in the pipeline, one of which is N-acetylgalactosamine 6-sulfatase (GALNS) which is undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of mucopoloysaccharidosis (Morquio A Syndrome). this is the first time that the company is to manufacture products outside the uS.
Staying in production
A SMALL Business Advisory Group has been established to improve dialogue between firms and government departments. Chaired by John perry, Minister for Small Businesses, the members are Conor Healy from Chambers Ireland, Sherri Brennan from Skip trans, tim Fenn from the Irish Hotels Federation, paul Gallagher from Buswells Hotel, Mark Fielding from ISMe, John ryan from Certification europe, patricia Callan from the Small Firms Association, Ian Martin from Martin Services, Jim Barry from the Barry Group, Jacqueline Hall from partners in Communication, John McDonald from Mediateam, John trethowan from the Credit review office, eamonn McHale from Department of Jobs, enterprise and Innovation, Vincent reynolds from the County and City enterprise Boards, tom Hayes from enterprise Ireland, Declan Hughes from Forfás, and Maria Ginnity from Forfás. Instead of being set up to issue yet another report, the group is to focus on maintaining productive dialogue between the Minister and SMes.
SeNSL, based in Cork and established in 2004 , has won a three year contract with the european Space Agency for low-light detection photomultipliers. the silicon photomultipliers are used in a variety of applications, and the extreme sensitivity makes them valuable in space. they are also a more cost effective, solid state alternative to the previous generation of vacuum tube photomultipliers. the €1 million contract is seen as just one of the many benefits arising from Ireland’s €14 million contribution to the european Space Agency. Apart from the eSA, the technology often turns out to have multiple applications, and in this case low-light detection is useful to a number of sectors. SensL technology is being used in medical imaging, radiation detection and X-ray imaging of baggage at airports. the company has over 1,000 customers. www.sensl.com SCIeNCe SpIN Issue 48 page 21
Space