INNOVATION AWARDS:Shortlists for The Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation
Awards have been drawn up – and it was no easy task, writes MICHAEL McALEER

IT WAS A LONG and challenging day for the judges of this year’s Innovation Awards, with 21 company presentations to sit through and discuss, but the resounding response was that it rekindled a belief that Irish businesses can overcome the challenges they face.

The breadth of the shortlisted candidates and their inventiveness demonstrated the determination and innovation that’s often cloaked from view by the overwhelming national concern about the economy.

A look at the final shortlisted companies, ranging from public sector reformers to high-end IT or pharma innovators, offers a window into the depth of talent in Ireland.

The panel comprised: Liam Nellis, chief executive of InterTradeIreland and adviser to the National Competitiveness Council; Colm Long, director of online operations at Facebook and previously director of online sales and operations for Google in northern Europe; Peter Callan, finance director of The Irish Times Group; Tim Cody, partner with Accenture; Michael Carey, executive chairman of Jacob Fruitfield Food Group and chairman of the board of the Marketing Institute of Ireland who won the Irish Ernst Young Industry Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2005; Ivan Coulter, founder of Sigmoid Pharma; and Deirdre Terrins, investment manager at Crescent, a Belfast-based venture capital fund.

The shortlist of 21 was chosen last month from a total of over 100 entries by an initial judging panel comprising Prof Frank Roche of UCD Smurfit Graduate Business School; Dr Graham Love of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI); Colin Ryan of Accenture; Sean Wallace of Byrne Wallace and Aidan Gough of InterTradeIreland. The seven category winners of The Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation awards – along with an overall innovator of the year – will be announced at a ceremony in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham on Wednesday, March 2nd.

Here follows a breakdown of the shortlisted firms in all seven categories.

(The development of an original or a significant improvement to an existing business system or process)

ORGANISATIONAL SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES: Pfizer's Dublin operation has developed an e-Suite system that combines with a new aseptic operations clean room for the management of a paperless drug manufacturing process. Expected cost savings are $250,000 this year and there will also be significant operational efficiency benefits. The system, which is used in the manufacture of sterile injectable drugs such as anaesthetics, antibiotics and anti-epileptics, is now being transferred to other aseptic sites within the global firm. It's the story of how staff at an Irish division of a major multinational are leading the way on a global stage.

Mentaga Learn is an online portal that allows students to build a personal profile, assess and receive feedback on their capabilities and interests, and match them with 800 potential career choices. It aims to help students choose further learning and career options. It was developed in conjunction with several second-level schools and the University of Ulster.

FitzGerald Nurseries in Kilkenny has proved that international success can come from a sector that is sometimes thought of as small scale and dispersed. FitzGerald Nurseries has brought high-tech processes to the horticulture sector here by combining science, IP registration and scaled production. It has registered seven different plant breeders rights. Pat FitzGerald (right), has accessed 18 international markets, and converted what was once the family farm into a business with 20 employees on site and another 15 at a laboratory in Enniscorthy. It now exports to the US, Australia and Japan, while its plants have won numerous awards, last year picking up the IPM Essen show in Germany – the world's largest commercial horticultural event.

PRODUCT INNOVATION:Intune Networks was founded in 1999 by two UCD graduates, John Dunne and Tom Farrell. It has developed advanced optical networking products that give carriers and internet service providers the capacity to meet growing demands for bandwidth.

An explosion in video content and emerging models for cloud-based services have put a strain on networks that is likely to get worse. Bottlenecks will be alleviated by what Dunne refers to as the "Holy Grail of networking".

For 30 years, laboratories and universities had identified optical packet switching technology as the way forward but it took Dunne and Farrell to come up with a clever piece of IP that made it commercial and scalable.

Early investors were found in Britain and the US, as their Irish counterparts opted for property over technology.

More than 30 companies and institutions have signed up to use the testbed, including BT, Imagine, EMC, UCC Tyndall, NUI Galway, UCD and DCU. The Government has also invested €10 million towards the build of the Exemplar Network using Intune technology (pictured left).

Galway-based medical device company Aerogen has created a new drug delivery system, Aeroneb Solo II, for acute care patients. The vibrating mesh technology produces millions of specifically sized droplets per second enabling controlled aerolised delivery.

It could change vaccinations as we know them, particularly in diabetes treatment. The product will enable insulin to be taken through aerosol technology, in which the medication is nebulised into a fine particle mist that can be absorbed through the lungs.

Colin Telfer, director of business development and partnered programmes with Aerogen, said such inhaled medicines could radically alter the lives of diabetics and other patients.

Diabetes affects more than 200,000 people in Ireland, and the number of patients globally is expected to double over the next two decades.

Aerogen, which employs 40 staff in its Galway office, hopes to become a global leader in the race to replace injections. The company said the product would be cost competitive and expects it to be on the shelves in three to five years' time.

Decawave has created an ultra wideband chip (pictured above with watch battery for scale) that allows users to locate any object indoors to within 10 centimetres, at an affordable price and with low power consumption.

There are many ways in which such a chip could be used, from tracking parts in a factory to use as security and personal tracking systems. The firm has received investment from Kernel Capital and International Investment and Underwriting (IIU) and has struck a deal for the chips with Korean company LG. Plans are to have the chip in mass production in early 2012 and chief executive Ciaran Connell believes it has a clear application in agriculture, manufacturing, security, safety and healthcare where it could be used to track items or even patients.

APPLICATION OF R&D:Equinome is a Dublin-based firm created on the back of work by UCD equine genomics researcher Dr Emmeline Hill, which identified a gene that could predict sprinting ability and stamina potential in thoroughbreds.

The Equinome Speed Gene Test has since been developed with the help of racehorse trainer Jim Bolger. The project was supported by the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association which provided DNA samples from elite racehorses.

The company is based at NovaUCD, the colleges technology transfer centre. Dr Hill has family history in the racing business: her grandmother Charmian Hill was the owner of Dawn Run, the only racehorse to complete the Champion Hurdle and the Gold Cup double at Cheltenham.

Realview (executive director Eamonn Ansbro) has created a product called Deep Screen which lets you watch TVs and PC monitors in 3D without wearing special glasses. It is already being sold in the US, with coverage in the media there, and it won the Best in Show prize at the Retail Vision Europe show 2010. The Roscommon-based firm run by Eamonn Ansbro (left) has gone on to develop devices for handheld games machines and has prototypes for Apple iPhones.

Celtic Catalysts has been developing catalysts that allow pharma firms to formulate drug molecules without unwanted and potentially harmful traits. Under the current process – known as resolution – the harmful material created during drug production has to be disposed of or recycled. The new catalysts allow for the formation of drugs without such waste. The problem is that catalysts have often only worked with specific molecules. Celtic Catalysts claims to have come up with a chemical platform that enables catalysts to be easily "tuned" to suit the particular traits or idiosyncrasies of a given drug molecule. If successful, the savings involved promise to make the technology a game-changer in the pharma sector.

GREEN TECH: With ever more rigorous requirements for companies to monitor and assess their emissions and carbon footprint, the paperwork involved can be overwhelming. In many instances firms have turned to experts and consultants to guide them through the warren of regulations, but at significant cost. That's what led three former Dell employees to set up ManageCO2, which has developed software that helps organisations measure, report and reduce their carbon footprint, while at the same time offering an easy-to-use suite of software that can be controlled by members of staff. It also aims to overcome the static information output from annual inspections by carbon consultants, and replace them with an ongoing information system. The easy-to-use system overcomes the need for most of the consultant reports currently commissioned by firms in this sector, resulting in significant savings.

Energy conservation has come into focus not only for its green credentials but also the significant costs savings that result, particularly at a time when cashflow is the lifeblood of all businesses. Verteco Energy has developed a simple process that reduces energy use in large buildings. The aim was to create a system that allows non-engineers to manage and reduce energy use. Its process, Closed Loop Energy Analysis (CLEAN), has been adopted in the Dundrum shopping centre (above) where they have achieved at least fivefold improvements in energy savings over expectations, it is claimed. Other projects replicating the system are in the pipeline and its founder, Patrick Shiel has a Ernst Young emergeing entrepreneur title under his belt. He is currently an external research fellow at Trinity College.

Kingspan Renewables, part of the Kingspan Group, is a Portadown-based green-tech company which has developed a new modular vacuum-tube solar energy collector called Varisol. The result of three years of research and development, it incorporates Kingspan's Thermomax vacuum-tube collectors but has greater flexibility in terms of installation. Unlike traditional vacuum tube collectors and solar plate panels, the Kingspan system allows vacuum tubes to "click fit" together to create solar thermal collectors of varying sizes. The system has already been adopted in Germany, where it has been applied to solar tubes attached to an industrial chimney. The innovation in the product is that it allows future solar "panels" to be arranged around the building's architecture and features, such as roof skylights, in a cost effective manner.

NORTH/SOUTH COLLABORATION:Dundalk-based IT firm Vennetics has created Mozzler a new internet-based telephone company that lets people make cheap internet calls that are charged to their mobile phone bill negating the need to create a new billing account with an internet company.

While systems like Skype require users to get a username or phone number that they must then share with their contacts, Mozzler allows users not only to use VoIP (voice over internet protocol) services online but also to swap between devices without interrupting a conversation. So you can quickly move a call from your mobile to your laptop at the click of a mouse without the caller noticing. Vennetics created the system in co-operation with Instil in Belfast.

When medical supplies company Moorings Mediquip decided to become a design and manufacturing firm it collaborated with the Centre for Bioengineering and the School of Engineering at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) to create a range of walking aids for children with physical disabilities. The end result was the Buddy Roamer, for children with cerebral palsy, that was developed in just over 12 months. Orders have been received from several countries across Europe. Further development could see similar walking aids created for teenagers and adults.

InvistaTech is a joint venture between Newry-based water treatment equipment firm FM Environmental and Limerick-based IT firm Central Solutions. It delivers turnkey waste-water treatment plant management.

To meet environmental legislation for waste water plant operators, InvistaTech aims to combine FM Environmental's expertise in plant equipment and servicing with Central Solutions skills in data management. Its new product is used in several plants in Ireland and is being launched on the global market.

SERVICE INNOVATION:According to Airtaxback, airlines keep over €3 billion of tax fees and charges paid by passengers who book flights but don't travel. They only pass the taxes on to Governments and the charges to airports when passengers do travel. Under the firm's web-based service at airtaxrefund.com, passengers can retrieve, return or recycle unused taxes and charges in Ireland, Europe and worldwide. With some families due as much as €200 on tax from a missed holiday, it expects many consumers to pursue this money.

Managing a multitude of accounts might not seem like a problem facing many individuals these days, but it can be a costly and cumbersome exercise for larger firms. Not only can it be time-consuming to keep track of the movements in these accounts, but it can be difficult to judge which ones are underperforming and which ones need to be renegotiated with the banks in question.

Bankhawk is a new analytic system that enables corporate treasurers to manage their banking activities with greater efficiency. It estimates client savings of around €10 million a year. The system has been endorsed by leading accountancy firms and Bankhawk has already engaged several blue chip clients, including Irish government agencies.

Ammado has created a one-stop donation point for charities and non-profit organisations. It provides an easy-to-use website "widget" that allows visitors – particularly employees using a company intranet – to donate to several charities using a single point of entry. It handles 75 currencies, 12 languages and allows for one-off or recurring donations, with 30 global payment methods.

It has already been adopted by several firms and its founders believe there are significant opportunities to work with multinationals with operations in several currency locations, but eager to assist staff in their charitable endeavours.

PUBLIC SERVICE INNOVATION:Doctors' electronic discharge summaries for patients look simple but involve a complex integration of systems and various functions and departments within a hospital. At the Adelaide and Meath Hospital in Tallaght, which incorporates the National Children's Hospital, about 25,000 patients are discharged annually. The hospital, in conjunction with the Ergo Software Group, has created a more content rich discharge summary, along with a variety of other functions that also attempts to reduce errors in prescriptions. Along with significant improvements in the accuracy of information on medical records, it has brought greater efficiencies across the system, from billing operations to a reduction in administration. The product is built on a number of national health IT platforms and it's hoped it can be used in other HSE sites.

With hundreds of laboratories and thousands of researchers, the third-level sector still manages the vast majority of its purchases and supply contracts individually. This can result in uncompetitive or informal pricing agreements and a lack of common product categorisation. Trevor Kerley of Trinity College (pictured) and Turlough Kieran of UCD, both responsible for laboratory-based procurement, came together to combine the negotiation power of the third-level sector to provide economics of scale and get good deals. So far the project claims a 20 per cent saving in costs and a 60 per cent reduction in the supply base. It is working with suppliers to create eCommerce platforms that will let end-users in the labs search and locate products, identify contract pricing and place orders directly.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was given enforcement powers for all 900 public water supplies in the same year that there was a cryptosporidium outbreak in Galway's water supply. With concerns about water quality and delivery, the EPA has introduced a new system for delivering quality improvements. In the three years since it started the scheme, there has been an almost two-thirds reduction in e.coli in public drinking water supplies.