ALL-ISLAND INNOVATION AWARDS: This year's shortlist line-up is as strong as ever, writes Conor Lally

Northern Irish companies have marked their first year in the Innovation Awards by securing nine of the 16 slots among the finalists' shortlist.

The Irish Times-sponsored awards, which are in their sixth year, aim to encourage a culture of improved competitive positioning, and maximising research and development investment in technology. For the first time, companies in Northern Ireland were invited to enter the competition, now known as the All-Island Innovation Awards.

The awards are jointly organised by Forfás's science, technology and innovation (STI) awareness programme in the Republic on behalf of the office of science and technology and by both InterTrade Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland.

Five prizes are awarded with an overall prize of €10,000 and four awards of €5,000 for winners in each section. These are:

small business - open to groups employing fewer than 50 people;

medium business - for companies with between 50 and 250 staff;

large business - employing more than 250 people; and

new technology-based businesses.

Companies can enter in respect of products developed in the past three years, except for the new technology-based business section, where innovation must be within the past year.

Dr William O'Kane, research and development director at Seagate (Ireland) and chairman of the judging panel, said the standard of this year's entries had been "very impressive".

"Innovation is essential if companies are to compete and grow and if the economy is going to make its mark on the global market," he said.

The awards are about encouraging a culture of innovation throughout Ireland and there was evidence that the business community in both the Republic and Northern Ireland was taking this seriously, he said.

Forfás chief executive Mr Martin Cronin said companies from across the island had demonstrated that innovation was the lifeblood of their business.

"Innovation is increasingly seen as a fundamental element in achieving competitive advantage and the awards are helping to recognise those companies which excel in this area," he said.

Many award winners in recent years have grown expotentially and, in some cases, are now leaders in their fields. Chief among these is Enfer Scientific, a Cashel-based group that developed a quick test for BSE. The company won the small category award and overall award four years ago.

Since then it has grown into a major player in the BSE testing industry in the EU and further afield.

When it won in 1998, it was carrying out around 9,000 BSE tests per year but now that figure is well over one million.

It exports its diagnostic kits to 130 countries around the globe and is one of only four companies carrying out testing on behalf of the EU.

Last year's overall winner was Xsil, a precision laser and robotics group. It won after it developed a system that enables semiconductor manufacturers to produce silicon used in microchips with greater speed, accuracy, cleanliness, yield and efficiency.

Xsil has since won the European Semiconductor New Company of the Year Award, confirming the decision of last year's judging panel.

This year's shortlist line-up includes entries from industries ranging from aerospace to carpets.

In the medium-sized companies category, Antrim-based Schrader Electronics and Dublin group Cross Vetpharm are two of the four runners.

Schrader is involved in the automotive industry and has developed a tyre valve and sensor that automatically informs the driver of a vehicle when the pressure of his or her tyres is "abnormal".

Company spokeswoman Ms Kathleen Holmlund said new legislation coming into effect in the United States next year stipulated that all new cars would be required to be fitted with the special valve and sensor system. "It was a huge break for us," she said.

The company's position in the market is reinforced by the fact that only a handful of companies worldwide produce the special valves, which greatly improve the safety of a vehicle.

Cross Vetpharm is a Dublin-based veterinary medicines company.

Its entry into the awards is a new non-antibiotic paste that prevents mastitis in cattle. In on-farm tests, the paste has been proven to cut E.coli, the most common cause of fatal mastitis, by 90 per cent.

In the new technology-based companies category, Dublin's Wilde Technologies and University of Ulster-based Causeway Data Communications have both made the shortlist.

Mr Colum Twomey, chief executive and co-founder of Wilde Technologies, says its entry, a product called Wilde 1.0, is an "architect implementation platform" which, broadly speaking, enables software engineers to build software in a much less complex and, therefore, more efficient and cheaper manner than at present. "At the moment, about 70 per cent of the money that is spent in software development is spent by companies after software has been delivered to them," he said.

The Wilde 1.0 technology enables companies to more easily change and refine software to meet their needs. "It fundamentally changes the way software is developed," Mr Twomey said.

Causeway Data Communications's entry is a new product known as Spatialest. Managing director Mr Adrian Moore says the product is used by a variety of companies and agencies wishing to value property or draw up a socio-economic map of a particular area.

It can be used by groups such as governments and health boards that want to determine where facilities such as hospitals should be based.

And in North America, where properties need to be valued every two years for local tax purposes, the technology can be used to calculate very quickly the value of properties across a whole region, based on the size and location of those properties.

Previously software valuation tools did not treat location as the prime factor in calculating the value of a property. Spatialest replaces the costly and time-consuming process that involves valuers visiting a property to determine its value.

Dr O'Kane is joined on the judging panel by Prof Fabian Woods, chairman of Invest Northern Ireland; Dr Martin Naughton, chairman of InterTrade Ireland and Glen Dimplex; Mr Finbar Costello, director of Moneymate; Mr Donal O'Connor, of Cruickshank & Co; and Mr Mark Earnshaw, of Murgitroyd & Co.

The awards ceremony takes place in Dublin on Monday, December 9th. Guest will include the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Ms Harney and junior Northen Ireland Office minister, Mr Ian Pearson.