Eight Irish tech companies have scored EU funding to propel their research
The funds help European startups working on in-depth technologies to grow.
EIGHT IRISH TECH companies have been earmarked for funding from the European Commission.
The funds are coming from the European Innovation Council (EIC), a body established to help scientific research commercialise.
Seven of the startups will receive between €1.5 million and €2.5 million each under the EIC accelerator: Coroflo, CroíValve, Bluedrop Medical, Perfuze, Vetex Medical, Votechnik and Beats Medical.
One of the companies, CroíValve, which is making a device for treating heart conditions, recently secured €3.2 million in funding from investors.
An eighth startup, Helixworks Technologies from Cork, will benefit from a grant from the EIC Pathfinder Pilot, a programme for high-risk research.
Helixworks is a member of the OLIGOARCHIVE project, a group developing new technologies for DNA storage.
The European Innovation Council, which is currently in a pilot phase, provides funding and supports to businesses. Its remit is due to be expanded in 2021 with a proposed budget of €10 billion.
Today’s announcement also sees a number of Irish appointments to the council’s advisory board.
Director general of Science Foundation Ireland Mark Ferguson will be chairing the advisory board that will help guide the council.
He will be joined by Dermot Diamond, principal investigator at the INSIGHT Centre for Data Analytics at DCU and Valeria Nicolosi, chair of nanomaterials and advanced microscopy at Trinity.
Carlos Moedas, the European Commissioner for research, science and innovation, said the council’s efforts are “about supporting the best innovators to put Europe at the forefront of the next wave of innovations”.
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