Research & Innovation

OxyMem has won the overall ‘Innovation of the Year’ Award at The Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards 2014, which were presented in Dublin last night.

The Athlone-based UCD spin out firm developed a unique and innovative ‘bubbleless’ aeration system for wastewater that is typically four times more energy efficient than other best in class solutions.

OxyMem was co-founded in 2013 by Professor Eoin Casey and Dr Eoin Syron as spin-out from UCD’s School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering. The company currently employs 12 people and is in the process of closing a €2m funding round and plans to increase staff numbers to 35 by the end of the year.

The company took first place in the ‘Energy & The Environment’ category and went on to compete against five other category winners to win the ‘Innovation of the Year’ award.

As its first prize, it will receive a communications and advertising package from The Irish Times worth €150,000, along with a UCD scholarship for an Executive Education programme commencing in 2015 and a state-of-the-art laptop.

The winners of the other five categories, who will receive a €10,000 Irish Times media deal and an iPad, are: Agri-Food: Richard Keenan & Co; Bioscience: APC Ltd; Creative Industries: Viddyad; IT & Telecommunications:  Shimmer; and Manufacturing:  Foldeaze Ltd.

All of the six category winners were presented with their awards at an awards ceremony at The Royal Hospital, Kilmainham last night.

“These awards show that Irish companies can be leaders in their field and innovators like the award winners will play a part in the country’s economic recovery,” said Taoiseach Enda Kenny last night.

The ‘Best North/South Collaborative Innovation’ award went to Animal Health Ireland from Leitrim, which has developed an industry-led national eradication programme for a disease of cattle on the island of Ireland. The BVD eradication programme has already successfully completed one year of testing and when complete will allow farmers to avoid an estimated €100m loss annually as a result of the disease.

InterTradeIreland has supported the Innovation Awards as joint partner for the last five years.  Associate sponsors include Teagasc, UCD Michael Smurfit Business Graduate School and Science Foundation Ireland.