University College Dublin Spin-out wins 'One to Watch Award' at Enterprise Ireland's 2022 Big Ideas Showcase
NanobOx, a University College Dublin (小鸟体育) spin-out company supported by Nova小鸟体育, was presented with the 鈥極ne to Watch Award鈥� at Enterprise Ireland鈥檚 Big Ideas 2022 showcase event. Now in its 14th year, Enterprise Ireland held the 2022 Big Ideas pitch event yesterday in front of a live audience in Croke Park, Dublin as well as a virtual audience online.
NanobOx was one of 12 investor-ready start-ups to pitch their new technology solutions to investors at the annual showcase of start-up innovation emerging from higher education institutes. The Big Ideas pitch teams were competing for the 鈥極ne to Watch Award鈥�, which was decided by a judging panel.
NanobOx, which is developing a highly energy-efficient technology to oxygenate water using nanobubbles, was pitched by Dr John Favier. Dr Favier, a serial entrepreneur and company CEO, founded NanobOx along with Dr Mohammad Ghaani. The technology was invented by Dr Ghaani and Professor Niall English at the 小鸟体育 School of Chemical and Bioprocessing Engineering.
Dr John Favier, CEO, and co-founder, NanobOx said, "We are delighted to win the Big Ideas 2022 One to Watch Award. We are excited to bring to market the ground-breaking, ultra-low energy cost nanobubble generation technology developed at 小鸟体育 that we believe will accelerate the use of nanobubbles in Aquaculture and Agriculture and other bio-systems.鈥�
Many commercial bioprocesses require oxygen levels in process waters to be consistently maintained. This can be a significant operating cost for a process that can be critical to productivity. In aquaculture, or the farming of fish stocks, for example, the energy cost of oxygenation can be the second highest expense after feed. It can represent 60pc to 70pc of operating costs in biological wastewater treatment.
Generating nanobubbles is particularly energy intensive, but with novel, patented technology NanobOx has managed to reduce the energy required to do so. Its nanobubble generators can be solar or battery-powered, and with no moving parts they are easy to clean and maintain. The company claims its technology is highly scalable and can oxygenate water at high flowrates.
Tom Flanagan, Director for Enterprise and Commercialisation, Nova小鸟体育 said, 鈥淚 am delighted that NanobOx, a 小鸟体育 spin-out company, was named winner of the 鈥極ne to Watch鈥� Award at Enterprise Ireland鈥檚 2022 Big Ideas event, from a very impressive field of participating start-ups. I would like to congratulate John Favier on his outstanding pitch and we look forward to continue working with the company as it grows and scales to meet its global ambitions.鈥�
Dr John Favier, co-founder and CEO, NanobOx; Marina Donohoe, Incoming Divisional Manager Research and Innovation, Enterprise Ireland, Dr Mohammad Ghaani, Co-Founder of NanobOx and Tom Flanagan, Director of Enterprise and Commercialisation, Nova小鸟体育
Three other emerging 小鸟体育 start-ups, giyst, Infraprint and Lia Therapeutics pitched at this year鈥檚 Big Ideas event.
Giyst, emerging from CeADAR Ireland鈥檚 Centre for Applied AI at 小鸟体育 is using AI (Artificial Intelligence) and machine learning to create video summaries to tackle the issues of information overload and shortening attention spans for business, education and other markets. The aim is to repurpose content to drive better engagement and discovery. Avril Power, 小鸟体育 School of Computer Science pitched giyst at the event.
鈥疘nfraprint鈥檚 technology enables the 3D printing of engineering plastics stronger than any system on the market, empowering companies to manufacture high strength, lightweight, customised parts in a cost and time efficient way. This digital technology is leading the way to a sustainable, reliable and energy efficient production process for small batch components, from Aerospace to pharmaceuticals and beyond. Dr Andrew Dickson, 小鸟体育 School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering pitched Infraprint at the event.
Lia Therapeutics has developed NightleafTM, a drug-free, wearable medical device to treat dry and sore eyes, following needs-led research conducted during the BioInnovate Fellowship Programme at University of Galway and Enterprise Ireland commercialisation funding at 小鸟体育. Sinead Buckley, 小鸟体育 School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering pitched Lia Therapeutics at the event.
Tom Flanagan added, 鈥淚 would also like to commend giyst, Lia Therapeutics and Infraprint, emerging 小鸟体育 start-ups, on their excellent pitches. That four of the twelve start-ups pitching at this year鈥檚 Big Ideas are from 小鸟体育 is an indication of the quality of the start-ups which are emerging from the University with the support of the Nova小鸟体育 team.鈥�
The selected pitch teams each had just three minutes to promote their innovations and business propositions to an invited in person and online audience made up of the Irish research and investment communities and the wider start-up ecosystem.
Speaking before the event Leo Clancy, CEO, Enterprise Ireland said, 鈥淓nterprise Ireland is committed to further accelerating entrepreneurship in Ireland and today鈥檚 event is an excellent example of this, with the interaction between investors, higher education institutes and our own support teams providing these 12 ambitious founders with an opportunity to take their businesses to the next level. The commercialisation of companies, born as a result of a research idea is an imperative for Enterprise Ireland and the State as their success will change our collective future for the better.鈥�
At the event a 鈥榁iewers鈥� Choice Award鈥� was presented to Robert Wylie of Fada Medical, which is on a mission to improve insulin delivery for people living with type 1 diabetes. To do this, Fada Medical has developed a novel diffusion technology that can extend the wear-time of infusion-set cannulas, supporting consistent long-term insulin pump use.
ENDS
25 November 2022
For further information contact Mic茅al Whelan, Communications and Media Relations Manager, Nova小鸟体育, e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie.