KTI Annual Impact Award finalists include ground-breaking new technologies
Recognising and celebrating excellence in knowledge transfer in Irish Higher Education Institutes and publicly funded research organisations, the annual KTI Impact Awards will be held in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham on Thursday 30th March.
KTI (Knowledge Transfer Ireland) is the national office that helps business benefit from access to Irish expertise and technology by making it simple to connect and engage with the research base in Ireland. The KTI Impact Awards recognise excellence in industry engagement and commercialisation of research and they pay tribute to the businesses and research performing organisations involved in knowledge transfer.
Entrants included seven universities, four Institutes of Technology and a number of other research performing organisations from around the country. Finalists included a wide variety of projects with economic and societal benefits. For example, Teagasc’s new technology licensed to Ornua will transform cheese-making manufacturing, opening up significant export markets in the Middle East. DCU collaborated with Intel and Croke Park on an Internet of Things “Smart Stadium” initiative which has been expanded to include Microsoft and over 30 SME’s. One of the University of Limerick shortlisted entries was the license of technology to UK based Crescent Ops Ltd that has led to the development of a new low cost fingernail test for bone fragility which enables the more effective diagnosis of osteoporosis.
Speaking about the shortlist of finalists, Director of Knowledge Transfer Ireland Dr Alison Campbell said: “The Impact Awards are about acknowledging and celebrating Ireland’s knowledge transfer and research commercialisation successes and the people who make them happen – the on-the-ground staff in technology transfer offices and industry liaison offices around the country. This year we received a record number of entries across seven categories from Universities, Institutes of Technology and similar research organisations. The calibre of submissions reflects the long term investment to support knowledge transfer and to strengthen the technology transfer profession. Ireland is now home to the highest number of RTTP (Registered Technology Transfer Professionals) per capita in the world”.
