US-Ireland Research Innovation Awards

The US-Ireland Research Innovation Awards are a joint initiative of the Royal Irish Academy and the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland. They recognise and acknowledge exemplary ideas, originating in Irish organisations, making a social and economic impact through research innovation in meeting market needs.

The Awards operate on an all-island basis and are awarded in three categories:

• MNC Award
• SME Award
• HEI Award

The winners of the 2017 US-Ireland Research Innovation Awards will be announced in May 2017. This year’s shortlisted innovations are:

MNC category

IBM Research Ireland - Transforming person-centric care for vulnerable populations through data, analytics and cognitive computing

Dr Spyros Kotoulas, research scientist at IBM Research Ireland, and his team have developed new techniques to help care professionals better understand the complex social, behavioural and clinical issues that vulnerable populations are facing. These new techniques understand context, anticipate needs and support workflow, shifting the focus on helping people, rather than solving acute problems.

Pfizer Ireland - Big and small innovations at Pfizer, Ringaskiddy delivering value to the business and to the patient

The team at Pfizer’s Ringaskiddy site in Cork has developed new improved synthetic routes outside and within the current regulatory filing. The best chemistry approach requires an innovative mind-set, ambition and strong technical knowledge throughout the project lifecycle to deliver both big and small innovations.

Analog Devices - Roche Diabetes Care & Analog Devices develop a next generation blood glucose monitoring (bGM) IC device 

Accu-Chek® Guide is the third generation electrochemical blood glucose monitoring (bGM) platform from Roche Diabetes Care Inc. The new BGM meter offers optimal performance, driven by the electrochemical impedance technology supplied by Analog Device’s ADuCM350 IC device.

SME category

3D4Medical - Transforming Medical Learning & Practice

3D4Medical’s Complete Anatomy is a cloud-based platform used in medical teaching and learning to explore the human anatomy in a 3D world where the user can zoom into the most minute detail, rotate body parts and examine them at any angle, while also being able to cut through various structures and watch how the different systems of the body interact with each other.

AID:Tech - AID:Tech and Middlebury Institute of International Studies Research Group

AID:Tech enables aid organisations and government bodies to distribute aid and social services efficiently and transparently. The innovative technology developed by AID:Tech allows for the transfer of aid funds through blockchain, thereby supporting and empowering vulnerable groups such as undocumented refugees.

HEI category

Trinity College Dublin - Trinity Research & Spark Therapeutics collaborate on fighting blindness

Professor Jane Farrar and her team at the School of Genetics and Microbiology at Trinity College Dublin developed a single therapeutic as a treatment for dominant genetic disorders. Genable Technologies, the spin-out from this research, was acquired by Spark Therapeutics Inc, a US public company and acknowledged global leader in the gene therapy arena.

Tyndall National Institute - microLED technology by Tyndall National Institute & Oculus 

Brian Corbett and his team at Tyndall Photonics Centre and the Irish Photonic Integration Centre developed a patented protected, microLED technology which has significant performance benefits over conventional LEDs in terms of resolution and energy efficiency. The microLED’s are 1/10th the width of a human hair and designed to control the direction and extraction of light as efficiently as possible.

University of Limerick - Development of a novel Hydroxyapatite forming bone repair material for use in neurosurgical operations

Dr Eamonn deBarra and his research team at University of Limerick, in collaboration with R&D staff at Stryker, have developed the first auto mixing, injectable Hydroxyapatite forming bone repair material used in neurosurgical procedures, and manufactured in Limerick. The material is used to fill bone defects caused by surgical procedures, for example in brain tumour excision surgery.

Trinity College Dublin - RelAte: Shared mealtimes to tackle social isolation and malnutrition in older adults

Sabina Brennan is a research psychologist and Research Assistant Professor at Trinity College Dublin. Her research focuses on understanding dementia risk and protective factors to establish how decline in cognitive function might be prevented or delayed. RelAte is a mealtime intervention that provides nutritional and social support to older adults living alone who are at risk of social isolation. RelAte was developed in partnership with Home Instead Senior Care Inc., a US care provider which funded the research project to investigate the relationship-based nutritional intervention in older adults living alone.

The US-Ireland Research Innovation Awards are kindly sponsored by KPMG and Ulster Bank, with media partner The Irish Times.