Research & Innovation

Vivid Edge, the energy efficiency specialist company, has won the Sustainability Category Award at the 2020 SFA National Small Business Awards. The aim of the Awards, now in its sixteenth year, is to celebrate the achievements of small business in Ireland and to recognise the vital contribution of the small business community to the Irish economy.

The Sustainability Award specifically recognises a company that has set-up or has made alterations to operations/structures either within its business or on behalf of other businesses that have made a positive impact on energy consumption and/or on the environment. The winners were selected from hundreds of applications received for the 2020 programme.

Vivid Edge, established in 2015, has developed a pioneering ‘energy efficiency as a service’ model for organisations which use large amounts of energy. The company provides the capital to enable these organisations to upgrade the efficiency of their buildings, beyond their own capital budgets, replacing such expenditure with a simple service fee.

To date Vivid Edge has secured the backing of a large European energy efficiency fund with an initial €30 million project funding facility and has completed projects with multinational private and public sector organisations generating a multi-million euro revenue stream.

The company has an exciting sales pipeline from Ireland UK and mainland Europe in offices, data centres and processing facilities across sectors such as telecoms, services, heavy industrial and retail.

Vivid Edge, headquartered at NovaUCD, the Centre for New Ventures and Entrepreneurs at University College Dublin, is an Enterprise Ireland high potential start-up (HPSU) company.

Tracy O’Rourke, founder and CEO 0f Vivid Edge, said: “We are delighted to win the Sustainability Award at the 2020 SFA National Small Business Awards. When we started out, the importance of climate action was not fully understood. So much has changed, what we are doing is now appreciated and this Award means so much.  It will be a source of inspiration to our team and our customers. We firmly believe much more is possible with a different approach. I would especially like to thank the Award category sponsor SBCI and the SFA.”

Tom Flanagan, UCD Director of Enterprise and Commercialisation, said: “I would like to congratulate the entire Vivid Edge team on winning a prestigious 2020 SFA National Small Business Award. We in NovaUCD couldn’t be prouder of you. This company is one to watch.”

The Sustainability Category Award was sponsored by SBCI (Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland). The County Cavan-based company, KORE Insulation, was named winner of the overall 2020 National SFA Small Business Award along with the Manufacturing Award category.

SFA Director, Sven Spollen-Behrens said: “We continue to grow an Awards programme that positions the small business brand as the backbone of the Irish economy. Congratulations to all the finalists, you are the best in small business and are all winners. Small businesses are present in every village, town and city and contribute enormously to them not only in terms of economic activity but also in terms of community engagement.”

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Pictured at NovaUCD are members of the Vivid Edge team: Tracy O’Rourke, CEO; Eimear Cahalin, CFO; and Paul Boylan, Technical Director.