Businesses in Dublin, Antrim and Galway lead the way as the search for the most innovative business on the island of Ireland is one step closer following the announcement of the shortlist for The Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards.
Eighteen nominees North and South across six different industry categories have been named in the shortlist. The aim of the awards, which are now in their sixth year, is to showcase and reward excellence in innovation across a range of products and services.
The shortlist features entries from established companies, innovators, start-ups and academia. Seven of the companies are from Dublin, four are from Antrim, three from Galway with one each from counties, Down, Mayo, Waterford and Wicklow.
The shortlisted companies are:
Agri Food Category:
- BFree Foods (Dublin),
- Dr. Coy’s Health Foods Ltd (Wicklow) and
- Ocean Harvest Technology (Galway)
Bioscience Category
- Embo Medical (Galway),
- Fusion Antibodies Ltd (Antrim) and
- Lloyds Online Doctor (Dublin)
Creative Industries Category
- ARCKIT (Dublin),
- The Creativity Hub (Antrim) and
- WholeWorldBand (Dublin)
Energy & The Environment Category
- AmbiSense Ltd (Dublin)
- REDT Energy (Dublin) and
- Surface Power HONE (Dublin)
IT & Communications
- Core Systems (Antrim),
- Nautilus NI Ltd (Down),
- Sedicii (Waterford)
Manufacturing
- AmaTech Group Ltd (Galway),
- Andor Technology (Antrim),
- Panelduct (Mayo)
The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on the 17th April in Belfast. Each category winner will secure a €10,000 media package with The Irish Times and an iPad with a subscription to The Irish Times e paper.
The overall winner of ‘Innovation of the Year’ will win a communications and advertising package from The Irish Times, worth in excess of €150,000. In addition, they’ll also win a UCD Smurfit Business School scholarship for an Executive Education programme commencing in 2016 and a state of the art laptop with subscription to The Irish Times e paper.
Michael McAleer, Editor, Business + Innovation, at The Irish Times, described the calibre of this year’s entries as extremely high.
“Our aim with these awards is to recognise and promote SMEs, start ups or established companies from all over the island which venture into the exciting world of innovation. As well as providing the companies involved with a valuable platform, the awards also lend them credibility in the market place. This is the sixth year of the awards and many of the previous winners have gone on to become industry leaders. We have no doubt that many of this year’s entrants and shortlisted nominees will emulate their success”
InterTradeIreland Strategy and Policy Director Aidan Gough said “Companies that embrace an ongoing culture of innovation are more likely to grow, sustain growth and gain a competitive advantage. That’s why it is so important to support, foster and acknowledge the spirit of innovation which these 18 pioneering companies and indeed all our entrants have displayed. They have done extremely well to get to this stage of the competition and our judges are looking forward to engaging with them further in the lead up to the announcement of the winners in Belfast in April.”
While almost 200 companies registered for the awards it is now just down to the 18 shortlisted entries who will present their innovations before a distinguished final panel of judges in Dublin in February. The final judging panel includes: Dr Christopher J Horn the co-founder of IONA Technologies, Aidan Gough Strategy and Policy Director InterTradeIreland , Norman Crowley CEO & Founder Crowley Carbon Ltd, Mark Nodder Group Managing Director the Wright Group, Helen Kirkpatrick MBE, Kevin Neary co-founder of the GameStop Group and David Woolfson CEO of Gabriel Scientific.
For more information, visit www.irishtimes.com/business/innovation/innovation-awards-2015 InterTradeIreland is a joint partner of the 2015 Awards. Associate Sponsors: Teagasc, Science Foundation Ireland and UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.