[May 24, 2013] Minister Sherlock Announces (Euros)6.9Million for 62 Projects Tweet (Targeted News Service Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) DUBLIN, May 23 -- The Ireland Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation issued the following news release: Minister for Research and Innovation, Sean Sherlock TD, has today (Thursday) announced Government funding through Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) of Euros6.9million encompassing 62 research awards. The investment is being made through SFI's Technology Innovation Development Award (TIDA) programme, in collaboration with Enterprise Ireland. Minister Sherlock said, "The TIDA programme focuses on commercially relevant research projects. It will enable numerous research teams to take the first steps in developing new discoveries and inventions with commercial potential." The Minister added "Today's funding announcement will help deliver the commercialisation of excellent research taking place in Ireland in a range of areas such as ICT, 'Big Data', medical technologies and food, amongst other things. These are areas of significant employment and should provide additional opportunities for Ireland." Amongst the research activities being funded are: * 'Big Data', a sector currently growing at up to 40% per annum; * The development of new drugs for cancer treatment and diabetes; * New ways to detect cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease; * Research to develop genetically modified crops tolerant to drought; * Underground high-voltage power cable technology as a substitute to overhead power lines; * Smart networked sensing systems in Agriculture; and * Projects supporting off-shore wind turbines, wi-fi technology and ultraviolet light sources for the pharmaceutical and semi-conductor sectors. Minister Sherlock concluded by outlining the thinking behind these awards. "A key part of the Government's Action Plan for Jobs is to support the commercialisation of excellent research and ultimately help to create the quality sustainable jobs we need. These 62 TIDA awards will release vital funding to allow the development of early discoveries and inventions with commercial potential, thereby feeding into our Action Plan. "The Director General of SFI, Professor Mark Ferguson, said, "As set out in Agenda 2020, one of SFI's strategic objectives is to become the best scientific funding agency in the world at creating impact from excellent research and demonstrating clear value for our research investment. Each submitted project has been through a rigorous review process and ultimate selection was on the basis of the quality and novelty of the proposed innovation, its potential impact, and its fit with the National Research Prioritisation areas. Additionally, the commercial expertise that Enterprise Ireland brought to the TIDA selection process played a key role in further underpinning the market potential of the award recipients." Incorporated into the TIDA programme is an entrepreneurship training course to consolidate and intensify the entrepreneurial skills of postdoctoral researchers active in SFI funded research labs. This course, which will support over 100 personnel, is designed to develop the skills necessary for SFI funded researchers to assess the market for potential commercial developments from research discoveries. It is also designed to create a network of researchers with business acumen who will interact regularly with each other, with SFI, Enterprise Ireland and Ireland's Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) established across the higher education institutes. Notes for Editors: Institutions represented under this TIDA announcement are: Trinity College Dublin (15), University College Dublin (9), NUI Galway (8), University College Cork (7), Dublin City University (6), Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (6), Tyndall National Institute (3), NUI Maynooth (3), Dublin Institute of Technology (3), University of Limerick (2). Some examples of the 62 projects include: * Prof. Manfred Hauswirth at NUIG is developing software which will integrate public and private data with a simple and intuitive user interface to support retail business planning. There is a huge potential in leveraging existing internal private commercial data, Public Sector data, and geographic mapping data to decrease costs and improve quality of decision making in the context of planning, managing, and developing a retail business going forward. There is a vast amount of data available but the fundamental challenge is that it is fragmented, difficult to find and consolidate in order to make it meaningful. * Prof. Mathias O. Senge in TCD is developing new drugs for cancer treatment based on a technique called photodynamic therapy. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a non-invasive treatment of cancer which involves the interaction of light with a photosensitizer molecules used to target the cancer. The photosensitizer (PS) accumulates inside the target (tumour) where it can be activated with light to produce toxic singlet oxygen resulting in death of the cancerous tissue. Selected photosensitizers are highly fluorescent and thus can be excellent tumour indicators with the capacity for highly sensitive detection protocols. * Prof. Marina Lynch at TCD aims to develop a simple blood-based assay which identifies early cognitive impairments and cognitive decline. Preliminary evidence indicates that plasma obtained from individuals with subtle, non-clinical cognitive impairment induces inflammatory changes in a human leukaemia cell line. Prof. Lynch's team proposes that these changes will be greater when cells are incubated with plasma from individuals with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's Disease. She will develop this blood-based assay which may allow for early diagnosis of cognitive dysfunction, and also provide a method of assessing the efficacy of therapeutic interventions in clinical trials. * Prof. Charles Spillane of NUIG is developing genetically modified crops which are tolerant to drought. He has identified unique lineage-specific genes in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana which are tolerant to drought. The TIDA project will enable him to determine if these genes can be deployed and commercially developed across multiple crop species. * Dr. Patrick Hayden of UCD is using his TIDA award to develop an efficient, high radiance, cost effective ultraviolet (UV) light source. Such light sources have a number of applications for study of the molecular composition of complex materials in the bio/pharmaceutical industries and are used in the semiconductor industry. Note a full list of awards is available on the SFI website: www.sfi.ie TNS C-PrabMal9 130524-mt93-4361952 61MarlizTagarum (c) 2013 Targeted News Service [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]