AgROBOfood – stimulating the uptake of robotics in the agri-food sector

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“The Horizon 2020 & Horizon Europe funding streams give participants exposure to a large European network of relevant research organisations, business advisory services, investors and companies.”

 

Christine O’Meara, Walton Institute, AgROBOfood, Horizon 2020 project

Key Takeouts:

  • Walton Institute, formerly TSSG, part of the Waterford Institute of Technology, is involved in a major project to encourage and facilitate the uptake of robotics in the agri-food sector.
  • The AgROBOfood project is being funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
  • Acting as a Digital Innovation Hub, The Walton Institute, is a one-stop-shop, supporting those in the Agri-food sector in locating and accessing robotics services or expertise and is mapping out the robotics ecosystem in Ireland.

Case Study: AgROBOfood

By 2050, our planet will be home to almost 10 billion people and the pressure on food production will be immense. There is now an urgent need to find and develop smart ways to farm and process food, and this underlies the European Union’s huge investment in agri-food-related innovation projects.

AgROBOfood is one such project. Focused on helping the Agri-food sector become more efficient through the use of robotics, the four-year, €16.3m Horizon 2020 project involves 39 partners and is led by Wageningen University & Research in The Netherlands.

The project team is broken into seven territorial clusters enabling more agile and effective group sizes. Ireland, represented by The Walton Institute (formerly TSSG) – an internationally recognised centre of excellence for ICT research and innovation and part of the Waterford Institute of Technology – is in the North West cluster. This cluster comprises the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, United Kingdom and Ireland.

AgROBOfood has three aims: to build a network of digital innovation hubs and competency centres; to load this network with a catalogue of services; and to showcase what robotics can do for the sector.

“Walton Institute is the Digital Innovation Hub for Ireland. We can signpost stakeholders to competency or research centres or other hubs in Ireland or across Europe that can provide the services or expertise they need. And as an R&D centre itself, Walton can also provide services directly,” explains Christine O’Meara, Walton Institute project lead.

“There’s definitely an appetite for digitization and automation, and Ireland has strong national players in, for example, the dairy sector where smart technologies are well advanced.” says O’Meara

“There are a lot of exciting start-ups in Ireland working in robotics in diverse areas from pasture management to sustainable poultry production. Across Europe, great progress has been made across agri-food with areas like robotic weeding and harvesting set to advance quickly.”

A key driver in the growth of the robotics ecosystem will be the results of three funding open calls. Two of these (Open Calls for Innovation Experiments) will involve a technology provider and a technology user coming together to advance and demonstrate their solution. The third open call will be targeted at a range of specific industrial challenges, for example, asking if robots can improve working conditions in the food industry.

“From a TSSG perspective, the opportunity to reach out to, and build relationships with, start-ups and SMEs in the agri-food space through these open calls is really important,” says O’Meara.

 

The Horizon advantage

One of the advantages of the Horizon 2020 approach, says O’Meara, is that it presents a means of looking at broader impacts, beyond the local and across disciplines.

“The Horizon 2020 funding stream gives participants exposure to a large European network of relevant research organisations, business advisory services, investors, technology companies, agri-food start-ups and large enterprises,” says O’Meara.

“Although in this project each cluster is working somewhat independently, we’re collaborating through a shared technology platform to ensure best practices are replicated and everyone has full visibility of progress and developments.”

O’Meara is involved in several Horizon 2020-funded projects, including Demeter and NIVA, and is keen to encourage others to explore the opportunities such projects present.

“As well as giving access to a breadth of expertise, Horizon projects provide a way of broadening your network and extending your skills,” confirms O’Meara

 

Don’t be daunted

For some, however, the Horizon process remains an intimidating prospect.

“Don’t be daunted by the proposal process. It’s quite structured and it’s clear what the EU wants to see. But you need to give yourself plenty of time. As soon as a call comes out you need to start thinking about what topics you’re interested in, what partners you’ll need and get the right team on board. Remember that there’s a lot of support available,” O’Meara advises.

Most research institutes have in-house support for Horizon 2020 applicants but another excellent source of support is Enterprise Ireland’s National Contact Points These provide information and guidance on all aspects of Horizon 2020 from signposting to webinars about areas of interest, to helping identify partners and reviewing proposals.

“Begin by identifying what supports are available to you and speak to someone who’s been involved in the process before. If you or your organization need help in writing the proposal, Enterprise Ireland can also provide consultancy support,” adds O’Meara.

“If you’re successful in getting Horizon 2020 funding, you will have a  very well defined plan of action set out in your implementation description and detailed work packages and you’ll have specific deliverables. So you’ll know exactly what to do from day one.”

For advice or further information about applying for Horizon 2020 support please contact HorizonSupport@enterprise-ireland.com or consult www.horizoneurope.ie

H2020 success stories banner link

 

Map of EU with padlock

GDPR and Data transfer to or through the UK

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The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force on 25 May 2018 and unifies data protection law throughout the EU. It gives individuals control over their personal data and requires businesses and other organisations to put in place processes that protect and safeguard that data. The regulation also addresses the transfer of personal data outside the EU and EEA.

 

Dealing with the UK, USA and other third countries

GDPR came into sharp focus this year as a result of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. GDPR still applies in the UK, however as it is now a third country it is subject to the GDPR rules governing the transfer of data outside the EU and EEA.

 

Data transfer to/through the UK

The first thing for firms to do is to establish exactly where their data goes. Companies may not realise that their cloud storage provider is actually located in Britain or Northern Ireland. Their pension schemes, payroll, healthcare plans may all be run out of the UK and involve the regular transfer of personal data. Workplace benefits databases could also be held in Britain or Northern Ireland. Even translation services might be covered if personal data is included in the material to be translated.

Having established that data is being transferred to the UK, the next step is to decide if that needs to continue. There may be options to look for another service provider in Ireland or another EU Member State and these should be explored.

Standard Contractual Clauses

If it is not possible or if it is too difficult to take this option, there is a ready solution to hand. There is a tool that can be used to solve this problem and it is available on the Data Protection Commission website. It is known as the standard contractual clauses (SCCs). This is a set of off-the-shelf clauses developed by the European Commission and which are recognised as an appropriate safeguard to ensure that firms remain compliant with GDPR.

The SCCs are already written and only require firms to fill in the blanks with their details. They can be appended to existing contracts and come into force when both parties sign them. Once signed, this enables firms to continue transferring data to the UK in full compliance with GDPR, and people still have their rights.

The data subject is also given certain specific rights under the SCCs even though they are not party to the relevant contract. Firms are also advised to update their privacy statements to indicate that the data is transferring to the UK under the terms of the SCCs.

The SCCs will cover most situations, but there are certain more complex cases where they may not apply. These are relatively rare, but firms in doubt should consult the Data Protection Commission or seek their own legal advice  to check out their particular situation.

There are also certain situations where the data transfer is not covered by contract. These include cases where data is being transferred from a UK Controller to an Irish processor for processing and then transferred back to the Controller. This has been a relatively routine process up until now, as the data remained within the EU at all times. The best advice for firms based in Ireland who find themselves in this situation is to look at the clauses within the SCCs and insert them into the service level agreement governing the activity. This will demonstrate an intention to be GDPR compliant in the new situation.

The same will apply to Irish shared services centres carrying out global back and middle office functions for multinational parents. They should update the terms of service to UK-based affiliates to include the SCCs.

 

Data Protection Policies

Some very large organisations use what are known as Binding Corporate Rules (BCRs). These are legally binding internal codes of conduct operating within a multinational group, which applies to transfers of personal data from the group’s EEA entities to the group’s non-EEA entities. The approval of BCRs can take a significant period of time and also, given the cost and complexity of BCRs, they are not a suitable transfer tool for most Irish companies.

The only remaining questions for Irish firms transferring data to the UK concern adequacy. Certain ‘third countries’, such as Japan, have received what is known as an ‘adequacy decision’ from the European Commission. This allows a cross-border personal data transfer from the EU to that country because it has been determined to have an adequate level of data protection safeguards compared to the EU. It could take some time before the European Commission completes its negotiations with the UK Government in order to deem the UK adequate as a jurisdiction to which data can be transferred under GDPR. Therefore, companies need to explore the options available to them when transferring data to the UK.

Digital Health icon

Data is the road to digital health

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Drive on any major road in Ireland and sooner or later you will pass a sign bearing the mark of the EU flag. Such signs mark Europe’s commitment to helping Ireland build a world-class road infrastructure.

As the turn of the millennium saw the fulfilment of road projects deliver people and goods around the country, a new strategic infrastructure is now underway to deliver what is arguably the single most market-disrupting change to how we work, live and do business – the movement of data.

Data, once housed in paper files or offline digital silos contained within organisations, now has the power to connect as never before and, with the advent of General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), there is a protocol that enables for the first time the free, and safe, movement of data throughout Europe.

For businesses, the implications are too important to ignore. The figures are truly astonishing and show the transformative nature of the growth of big data. It is estimated by the Dutch Datacenter Association that 90% of the world’s data was created in just the last two years alone. The total addressable market for the digital economy could be worth in the region of €415 billion a year, according to European Commission forecasts.

 

Data is central to digital health

It is no less than utterly transformative, and one of the biggest areas to see massive change is healthcare and patient data. Connected devices, wearables and the Internet of Things, together with cloud computing and pooled data is putting patients at the centre of their healthcare journey.

“Ten years ago, digital health in those days was an option,” says Brian O’Connor, chair of the Irish-based European Connected Health Alliance (ECHA). “Today digital health is a must. The world has moved on tremendously in the past five years and we need to embrace this revolution.”

This revolution, says O’Connor, is redefining how states interact with citizens and their personal data, not least in health. Consumers regularly hand over personal and financial details and there appears to be a growing acceptance for doing so with confidential medical data, he says.

 

Countries leading by example

He cites Estonia, which fully embraced digital citizenship and eHealth after 95% of the populace said they approved of digitised medical information. “The only thing you cannot do online in Estonia is get married or divorced,” says O’Connor. “Getting your blood results, booking a GP appointment or seeing which consultant at which hospital is available can all be done by citizens online. It’s as simple as booking a cinema ticket.”

But the power of joined-up connected data sharing becomes apparent when O’Connor explains that it works across national borders, most notably with Finland. Many Finns commute to Estonia and their digital records move with them, allowing them to see their GP in their home country but pick up the prescription at work in Estonia.

Similar cross-border data-sharing is already underway on the island of Ireland. Ambulance crews on both sides of the border are able to pick-up a patient and check out bed space and resources in hospitals either side of the border before transfer, with benefits for both patient and healthcare provider.

 

Ireland’s journey to a digital health system

Just over two years ago, Ireland unveiled the first national electronic patient chart for maternity anywhere in the world with the birth of daughter Emily to Ellen Shine and Aidan Cotter at Cork University Hospital. The scheme is now being rolled out nationally.

It is in an early stage but Health Minister Simon Harris called it the first step in a ‘national journey’ towards a digital health system. The Government has committed to implementing its vision of a digital health system, as outlined in its 2017 Slaintecare strategy and, much like the road infrastructure, Ireland has availed of a €225 million loan from the European Investment Bank to aid some of the implementation, while the State itself has earmarked some €85 million for 2019 for eHealth, €100 million for 2020 rising to €120 million by 2021.

“The EU funded bridges, roads and tunnels in the last century. Now it is funding infrastructure for the free movement of data,” adds O’Connor.

One of the key planks for this medical data sharing is the approval within the last six months of a European Patient Summary Record, a digital record that stores standard information

“Ireland is in the lead in my opinion in this area. The ECHA has linked that digital maternity programme with other countries such as Netherlands, Finland, Spain, Estonia, France and Denmark. There is huge interest in our system.”

Now there exists a real opportunity for the private sector to introduce its innovation into the HSE and beyond, says O’Connor.

 

Sourcing innovative solutions

Enterprise Ireland has also been supporting the ecosystem at its grass roots.

“We have to acknowledge the role of Enterprise Ireland here,” adds O’Connor. “It is working directly with the HSE to find out their needs in relation to Slaintecare. Then they work closely to introduce indigenous Irish companies who might have a solution.”

This builds on work by ECHA, which also reaches out to healthcare providers across its 78 member countries to link innovative eHealth products and solutions to clinical teams that need a solution.

Introducing innovation and enterprise into the supply chain is exactly where we want to be, added O’Connor.

The knock-on effect, he says, is that the healthcare procurement process is vastly improved as it builds in previously unknown innovation, innovation which may never have crossed the desk in any other event.

It remains to be seen if a GP waiting room or a hospital cloud server will carry the ubiquitous EU flag sign but one thing is certain, data infrastructure is as important for this century as roads were to the last.

 

Learn more about the innovation supports available from Enterprise Ireland.

Enterprise Ireland’s top tips for entering the Dutch market

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The Netherlands is active worldwide in providing creative and sustainable solutions for global challenges relating to water, food, energy, health, environment, and security, this thriving economy welcomes foreign business and is a great starting point for clients who wish to enter the Eurozone.

If you are considering doing business in the Netherlands, please be sure to explore our tips to enter the market below and also be sure to reach out to our dedicated team.

  • Dutch is the national language of the Netherlands, but they are very open to conversing in English, with 90% of the population speaking it. Although a translator may not be crucial at first, it is considered a sign of good intent to have local people and services involved on the ground.
  • In Dutch business culture, meetings are important and famous for their traditional ‘Afspraken’, (crucial discussion opportunities.) The Netherlands has led the shift towards remote working long before the Pandemic, and are well prepared for digital meetings, something that is of increasing importance in today’s age. Come dressed relatively formally and you’ll fit right in.
  • The Dutch are masters in logistics, and home to world-class seaports, airports, and railway systems. You also have access to 170 million consumers at your fingertips, and not only that, NL is ranked no.1 in the world in digital connectivity, something that should be embraced.
  • Decide on a route to market: Joint ventures and acquisitions can be a successful route to market in the Netherlands, gaining you a foothold and bringing on board established contacts and market knowledge.
  • Like Ireland, the Netherlands relies heavily on exports. As a result, they are naturally more open to international trade, making it very possible to sell directly. That being said, export strategies that include a local partner are usually more successful and foster a consistent presence.
  • Trust the Process and embrace the economic and cultural benefits that the Netherlands has to offer. A global pioneer in several markets this is an ideal location to step into Europe.
  • Understand that sustainability is key: At present, the Corporate Tax rate is 20% on the taxable amount up to €200,000 and 25% on excess, worldwide. The environment is important to the Dutch, and reliefs are provided for companies who value sustainability.
  • Be prepared and know your competition: It is important to do your market research. This is a highly competitive landscape, with 15,000 foreign companies competing in a country smaller than Ireland. Luckily, our world-class Market Research Centre can assist you with valuable market intelligence to help shape your strategy.
  • Be innovative: in the Netherlands, it is important to be forward-thinking and competitive. Make sure you have a strong value proposition and stand out from the rest.
  • Finally, do your research! Explore the different resources available from Enterprise Ireland to delve deep into the market and really understand the opportunities and challenges that will arise. Our world-class Market Research Centre provides countless market reports, and MA’s are happy to help with market-related requests.

For more be sure to check out our Going Global Guide 

If you would like to know what to prepare ahead of your first MA call, click the graphic below

Trevor Bishop UK Water

Senior water industry executive Trevor Bishop outlines opportunities as UK enters five-year plan

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Following a keynote speech at the Enterprise Ireland and Wet Networks (an Arup and WRC initiative) Water Innovation Seminar in February, Trevor Bishop spoke to Enterprise Ireland to discuss key issues explored at the event. Bishop is Organisational Development Director with Water Resources South East in the UK.

 

Water companies in England and Wales face demanding requirements for Asset Management Planning Period 7 (AMP7), with the next five-year plan for the sector covering the period 2020-2025. The economic water regulator Ofwat has said that issues to be addressed include population growth, climate change and water scarcity. Companies must also deliver on a need for fairer pricing, water supply resilience, and environmental protection.

 

Bishop stresses that requirements present a major opportunity for innovators to connect with water companies. One of the biggest problems faced is leakage, with many companies committing to reducing leaks by around 15% during AMP7. Bishop said, “It’s a very significant challenge. The boards [of water companies] have shown high levels of ambition following challenges set down by regulators. However, these ambitions will require companies to go beyond what they know they can do and will rely on real innovation to deliver.”

“It isn’t always easy for an SME to work directly with a big water company. We need to make sure we can find the right partnerships, so that innovation can be used where it’s appropriate and we can share and learn better between us”.

 

Bishop outlines what lies beneath

Much of a water company’s asset base is below ground, the network of pipes. A significant challenge is that knowledge about these assets is often limited: “It’s very difficult to understand their condition. We all too often tend to only know that there is a problem when something starts to go wrong,” Bishop explained.

One area in which innovators can assist water companies include the need for technology to monitor performance, condition, bursts and damage: “We’re starting to see some breakthrough technologies that could actually be quite disruptive, with regard to these aspects, particularly the shift from performance to condition monitoring.”

Bishop mentioned the potential to adapt ideas from other sectors. As we know, modern cars now use an electric current that flows through the windscreen, allowing it to detect water drops, so that wipers activate when it starts to rain. We are starting to see people thinking about similar application in the pipe network to alert companies to condition and leaks.

As its name suggests, Water Resources South East is an alliance between six water companies from the south east of England. It faces some major challenges arising with AMP7 and will need to increase capacity by roughly one third through to 2050 while needing to reduce its traditional reliance on mainly rivers and groundwater.

Bishop commented, “Most catchments are effectively fully licensed in terms of abstraction, so we need to look for innovations, new and different ways to use water more effectively by conservation, demand management and leakage, but also by moving water from areas of service to areas of deficit, looking at desalination, looking at more reservoirs, looking at effluent reuse and recycling of water within basins, etc.”

 

AMPing up the pressure

Irish innovators should be alert to the opportunities arising from challenges created by AMP7. Bishop noted that, “Ofwat is going to be putting some pretty serious efficiency challenges on base operation expenditure for water companies and that’s going to drive a strong need for really good innovations. A lot of companies were very interested in what they were seeing and hearing from some of the innovators [at the Water Innovation Seminar]”.

He added that he was not just impressed by the Irish companies alone: “I was really impressed with the system in Ireland to nurture those innovations and to help drive them through to commercial organisations.”

 

Adaptive planning

Trevor believes that resilience is about thinking about things in combination: “You can’t plan for every single extreme that might happen but what you can do is take a much broader overview of what those risks look like and what best value interventions you can make to actually help mitigate a range of threats.”

One issue of concern for Bishop is the ability to source appropriately skilled people, as multiple large infrastructural projects are underway in the UK: “Some companies are starting their own skills academies. We’ve got an organisation called Energy Utility Skills, which includes water, looking at future trends in skills and capacity”.

Water companies have traditionally been seen as risk averse. Is now the time for a change in attitude? Bishop concluded, “If you’re thinking about drinking water quality, absolutely not. They need to be risk averse. The legislation is set that way and so they should be. With regard to some of the other challenges we face, you’re looking at genuine opportunities for innovation. You’re looking at taking risks, and companies are starting to show they can do that by making their commitment on leakage above what they probably know how to deliver.”

 

Insights from the UK water sector

Steve Quarmby, United Utilities:

“United Utilities, in common with all water companies, has got to save something in the order of 8-10% of our capital spend. And that is expected to be delivered by innovative ways of working – the pathway to do that isn’t quite clear. The areas where we need to explore are defined but the means and the mechanisms are actually quite vague. Now, that’s quite inspiring and gives room for creativity but it’s also slightly scary because we don’t know what the answer is. However, I am optimistic because we do have a proven track record of having risen to all the previous challenges.”

 

Jon Brigg, Yorkshire Water:

“We’ve got a real challenge with phosphorus removal in the next five years under the Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) challenge for 2020-2025. OxyMem technology [an Irish company who presented at the Water Innovation Seminar] doesn’t recover phosphorus but what it does is it creates capacity within a standing activator solution plan, which allows us to adapt half of the channel to phosphorus removal and a more concise footprint for nitrogen removal, the ammonia removal. It’s thinking about things slightly differently and with the NVP technology [another Irish company that presented at the seminar], again we’re looking differently at how we deal with small sewerage treatment works, and remote sewerage treatment works.”

 

Darragh Cotter, Cleantech Market Advisor based in Enterprise Ireland’s London office, commented, “It’s so important to have key UK water industry figures such as Trevor, Steve and Jon to Ireland to discuss the innovation challenges facing the sector.

“It gives Enterprise Ireland water and wastewater cluster members a clearer picture of the challenges and requirements facing UK water utilities. It’s also an important opportunity for Irish companies to showcase how they can collaborate with UK industry to help meet the stringent objectives set by Ofwat, the regulator. Exchanges like this are crucial for utility and supply chain engagement and are necessary to ensure that excellent Irish technology and innovation is at the forefront of sustainable water provision and management in the UK.”

FlowPhotoChem helping to green the chemical industry

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“Innovation activities in the area of solar energy conversion technology, including solar chemicals, are key to achieving the decarbonisation targets set by the EU.”

Dr Pau Farràs, coordinator of the FlowPhotoChem project

Key Takeouts:

  • NUI Galway is leading a major project that is developing innovative, sustainable ways to manufacture ethylene using artificial photosynthesis.
  • The four-year project has received €6.99m from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
  • The FlowPhotoChem project will pave the way for a range of other green chemicals to be produced solely from sunlight, water and CO2.

Case Study: FlowPhotoChem

If the European Union is to achieve its target of a climate neutral economy by 2050, which will involve reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 80–95%, new and disruptive approaches and technologies is needed across all sectors. Reducing emissions is a challenge, in particular, for the chemical industry, one of Europe’s largest manufacturing sectors but also one of the most polluting, emitting over 145 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents each year.

The Horizon 2020-funded FlowPhotoChem project is one of many innovative projects currently developing technology that will help to reduce the chemical sector’s CO2 emissions. The project aims to develop an integrated system of modular reactors that consumes CO2 and uses concentrated sunlight to form ethylene.

Involving 14 partners from eight countries, €6.99 million in EU funding and led by Dr Pau Farràs from the Ryan Institute, NUI Galway, FlowPhotoChem will produce ethylene as a proof-of-concept and will pave the way for a range of other green chemicals to be produced solely from sunlight, water and CO2.

“Innovation activities in the area of solar energy conversion technology, including solar chemicals, are key to achieving the decarbonisation targets set by the EU,” says Dr Farràs.

Combining the expertise of research teams from Ireland, Germany, Hungary, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Uganda and the UK, FlowPhotoChem’s technology is innovative and so too is the overall aim of the project. “Our new technologies will enable the production of chemicals using solar energy to be carried out in small-scale installations and not just in large-scale infrastructures as at present,” says Dr Farràs. For example, this technology can be used to create small devices that could produce hydrogen peroxide to purify water, responding to the needs of rural, isolated areas in sun-rich countries.”

 

Unique platform for collaboration

Alongside FlowPhotoChem, Dr Farràs is involved in a number of other EU-funded projects related to green energy and chemicals, including Solar2C­­­­­­hem, SeaFuel and HUGE, and recognises that funding mechanisms such as Horizon 2020 offer a unique platform.

“A wide range of skills is needed on an ambitious project like this, beyond what an individual organisation would have, so collaboration with different partners is compulsory to achieving our goals,” says Dr Farràs

As coordinator of the project, Dr Farràs is tasked not only with keeping on top of the development of the technology but also with managing the integration of academics and industry with different skills.

“Our approach is to manage the individual work packages through monthly conference calls to keep everyone engaged and make sure we are on track with the work. This means that when we have larger meetings with all partners, we can talk about the bigger picture because the technical details have already been covered. This kind of management structure is working well. I feel it’s important to have face-to-face interactions; at the moment it’s all virtual meetings but we’re planning for physical workshops next year.”

 

Advice for Horizon 2020 applicants

Horizon 2020 had a budget of over €80 billion over seven years and its successor, Horizon Europe, will have a significantly bigger budget offering immense opportunities for individuals and consortia to secure funding for cutting-edge research.

However, some potential applicants are wary of the paperwork involved in securing funding.

“It’s true that there is a lot of work involved in putting together projects like this,” admits Dr Farràs. “But my advice would be to use the help that’s available. The support from Enterprise Ireland is fantastic. For both the FlowPhotoChem and the Solar2Chem projects, I applied for and received the Enterprise Ireland Coordinator Grant.

“I needed someone not only to review the proposals but also to help write them. Thanks to the Coordinator Grant I was able to work with a consultant who had a lot of experience in this area, and who also helped with the administrative side of things,” says Dr Farràs

“It was also good that FlowPhotoChem was a two-stage call so the shorter document that we had written for the first stage helped with the longer second stage proposal.”

 

Personal and professional benefits

Helping to create world-changing technologies brings its own rewards but beyond that the Horizon experience offers personal and professional benefits.

“First of all, when you undertake research with other groups the impact of your research is improved. We’re also seeing that the Horizon proposals increasingly ask for information on the social aspects of the project as well as technical content, so it’s a great way to meet people from both your own discipline and from others,” says Dr Farràs.

“No matter what stage you are at in your career there are benefits to being involved in these projects. For example, there are eight PhD students involved in the FlowPhotoChem research. It’s a great opportunity for them as they will see their individual tasks converge at the end into the final system contributing to a specific and significant application.”

For advice or further information about applying for Horizon 2020 support please contact h2020support@enterprise-ireland.com or consult www.horizon2020.ie

H2020 success stories banner link

 

Digital Health

A bright future for Ireland’s digital health ecosystem

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The future of healthcare is a connected one. Digital technology and cloud computing have made technological strides that mean integrated individually tailored healthcare is now a reality.

Apps can feed back data to primary caregivers in real time, digital medical records provide accurate and timely information, while machine learning crunches big data and blockchain technology protects it.

But to get to this point requires intervention and a road map that fosters innovation and investment. Strategic investment in the knowledge economy and sowing the seeds of a digital healthcare evolution requires the creation of policy and frameworks within which the research and start-up sector can grow.

Ireland’s world-leading position in the medtech sector has been carefully nurtured through a combination of state planning and partnership with multinationals, that now positions the healthcare and life sciences sector as one of Ireland’s strongest and most important business industries. It employs some 38,000 people in around 350 companies. That makes Ireland the largest employer of medtech professionals in Europe per capita. Ireland is also the second largest exporter of medtech products in Europe, with annual exports of €12.6 billion to over 100 countries globally.

 

Government policy supports Ireland’s digital health ecosystem

Ongoing digital transformation is supported at the highest level, according to Barry Lowry, Chief Information Officer at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

“Of course, when investors are looking at where to go, one of the key things they’re looking at is, well what is the digital ecosystem like in that country that we’re going to? Because that suggests there’s a market there, it suggests there’s a workforce there.

“We obviously want that European digital capability to be dominated disproportionately by Ireland and we’ve got a lot of the skill sets to make a really good contribution in that area. The key thing is national government policies are aligned with this.”

In its 2017 Sláintecare strategy, the Irish government outlined its healthcare vision for the next 10 years, including the implementation of connected digital health, stating: “Digital health solutions can support more efficient processes, empowering patients in managing their care and accessing their own medical records, as well as facilitating the provision of services in more appropriate care settings closer to the patient’s home.

“In the future, a coherent suite of eHealth solutions will underpin and support our overall vision for integrated, patient-centred care, population health planning and more effective and safe delivery of health services. Patients and health professionals will have ready access to clinical records and administrative information, which will enable better decisions to be made.”

It may seem to be easier said than done, when according to the Health and Information Quality Authority (HIQA) information is spread over 120 datasets across Irish healthcare.

But the government has set out a clear funding pathway for eHealth, Muiris O’Connor, the Department of Health’s assistant secretary at R&D and Health Analytics Division told a recent Enterprise Ireland-hosted conference on the eHealth Ireland EcoSystem.

Some €85 million is earmarked for 2019, €100 million for 2020 rising to €120 million by 2021, delegates were told.

 

Enterprise Ireland support for digital health

Enterprise Ireland has been supporting the ecosystem at its grass roots.

Procurement of innovation by State bodies has been boosted by Enterprise Ireland’s Small Business Innovation Research programme (SBIR), which aims to meet unmet needs across the public sector, including areas such as health and community engagement, by funding up-to-date trialling of new concepts and tech at an earlier point in the supply chain.

This allows innovation to be baked into the supply chain at a much earlier point in a product development cycle. In its five-year lifespan, it has funded 20 projects including the development of smart sensors by Danalto, Carra and mSemicon that are being deployed in gullies across Dublin City to measure and monitor flood levels.

Perhaps crucially for SBIR, IP is retained by the business, meaning a successful solution can be scaled and rolled out quickly.

Enterprise Ireland provides further sector-specific supports, such as Health Innovation Hubs Ireland (HIHI) scheme, Technology Transfer Offices (TTO), and the Technology Gateway Programme.

HIHI facilitates and accelerates the commercialisation of innovative healthcare solutions by offering companies the opportunity for pilot and clinical validation studies and the health service access to innovative products, services and devices that they may not otherwise be exposed to.

TTOs, which are embedded in university and college research institutes throughout Ireland, provide an invaluable resource in relation to research, development and innovation.

And the Technology Gateway Programme fosters greater cooperation between business and Institutes of Technology by offering funding rounds for capital expenditure for R&D.

But the ecosystem would be nothing without the skill sets to grow it, which is why this emerging sector is a national priority. The Irish Medtech Association, a key industry stakeholder in the Irish ecosystem, has reinvented its offering. It has a Connected Health Skillnet that offers learning, development and networking opportunities and is run in partnership with Biopharmachem Ireland and Technology Ireland.

The sector is also supported by a strong networking and collaborative culture, with Ireland being home to the European Connected Health Alliance, which actively promotes and supports the connected health agenda through its presence in more than 40 countries. ECH Alliance events are the perfect forum for investors, partners and start-ups to engage with leading experts from government, education, multinationals and the indigenous sectors.

 

Read more on the Irish companies succeeding in the Healthcare and MedTech sectors.

ProDig agri machinery

ProDig invests in the future as it continues to do the heavy lifting

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As the use of digital technology to improve farming efficiency increases, it can sometimes be forgotten that advances in more traditional areas of agriculture remain as important as ever.

Machinery is the original agritech. Innovations that reduce the physical workload for farmers are as old as agriculture itself and are vital to the sector’s profitability in every market.

ProDig Attachments prides itself on doing the heavy lifting. From its base in County Carlow, the company introduced its expertise in manufacturing machine attachments for the construction sector into agriculture 10 years ago and quickly built a reputation for the quality and versatility of its machinery.

Donny Nolan, co-founder and director of ProDig, explains: “ProDig has a strong focus on multi-purpose machinery. We produce attachments that will do the job of three traditional attachments, so the farmer only has to buy one. These attachments also make the feeding process easier, faster and more economical.”

ProDig’s product range includes shear grabs, shear buckets, bale handling attachments, folding grass forks, hi-tip buckets, and bag fillers – all of which are designed and manufactured at the company’s purpose-built factory.

ProDig agri attachment

Donny says: “Our products are pitched generally at the top end of the market. We don’t make cheap equipment. We manufacture on a quality basis and on the basis of a long lifespan for an implement, so we look at the mid to top range of the market. There are a lot of manufacturers in Eastern Europe, China and cheaper economies that we don’t really try to compete with. We look to create implements of top-end quality, innovative products.

“We distribute through importerships. We try to have one single point of importership in a region, whether that be a state in the USA or an entire country. For example, in Germany, we have one importer for the whole country and they in turn the distribute to the dealer network.

 

Strong export strategy

“We’ve got nine or 10 export markets and we also have some markets that we export to on a one-off sale. For some of our unique attachments, the likes of bag-filling units, we export to markets where we have one-off sales going direct to end-user customers. This would be to countries including India, Thailand and South Africa.”

It is a model that has served ProDig well. Consistently growing sales of its broad range of products in various export markets is testament to the quality and effectiveness of the machinery ProDig makes. Indeed, the company has big plans for further growth, spearheaded by a major investment to expand its manufacturing facilities at its Bagenalstown base in County Carlow.

Donny says: “We started an expansion plan in mid-2018 and that’s really kicking into place now. We’re expanding our existing production areas. We’re installing new capital items – new fabrication bays, new welding bays, some new machinery, some new robotic systems.

“It is quite a substantial investment. Over a three-year period, we’re looking at an investment of €1.5 million in the business.”

As with the machinery it makes, ProDig has put considerable energy into planning and preparing its expansion plans and the company is confident that the demand for their machinery is there.

Donny explains: “All our existing markets are expanding all the time, as we are. Our German market is expanding, our New Zealand market is expanding. We have several markets that we’re looking to move into over 2019-2020. We’re currently looking at increasing our presence in the USA, and we’re planning to do feasibility studies on the French and Australian markets.

“This investment will give us an increased manufacturing capacity of 40% and this will help us reach these markets.”

 

Focus on R&D drives innovation at ProDig

For ProDig’s customers, the investment and increased capacity also means enhanced innovation to improve and create new machine attachments.

“As part of our three-year investment, starting from the middle of this year, we’re running a new R&D programme to look at several new products,” Donny says.

The focus of the R&D programme will be the same for ProDig as it has been for the past 10 years: to help farmers do the basics better.

Donny explains: “To innovate within those basic tools and come up with new ideas and faster solutions for the basics – the attachments, bailers and other tools – is vital. If you make the basics better, you make the overall better.”

Doing the basics better is very much in the company DNA at ProDig, while the company’s continuing growth and expansion plans demonstrate the importance of innovating and constantly-improving machinery for farming.

 

Learn more about Enterprise Ireland’s innovation supports. enabling companies to develop new market opportunities and maximise their business performance. 

Salaso CEO Aoife ni Mhuiri

Salaso: Using market research to hone your growth strategy

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Salaso CEO Aoife ni Mhuiri

Market research is important at every stage of building a business, not just when you’re exploring new markets and verticals. For Aoife Ní Mhuirí and Salaso, market research was vital when their precision exercise digital platform was inundated with requests from new customers over the last 12 months – and this is where Enterprise Ireland’s Market Research Centre proved so useful.

“The last year has been an absolute gamechanger in terms of digital health, we experienced a large increase in inbound customer queries because we had the digital platform to deliver to patients under COVID restrictions.” explains Salaso CEO Aoife Ní Mhuirí

“As a small company, we had to focus on the right opportunities and we found the Market Research Centre particularly useful in understanding these customers. More strategically it is has helped us hone our market expansion strategy in the US.”

 

The growth of digital health

In business for 10 years, Salaso is a well-established digital platform designed for health professionals to make precision exercise prescriptions easily accessible for patients. The idea was born out of Aoife’s experience as a working chartered physiotherapist and her interest in e-learning and digital technology.

“I did the Endeavour Programme back in 2011 at the Institute of Technology in Tralee (now Munster Technological University), and that was essentially the start of Salaso. The company’s aim was to use technology and multimedia to make exercise a core part of healthcare and this led to the development of the Salaso platform . Physiotherapists, occupational therapists, primary care therapists, nurses, physicians and so on can use the infrastructure to engage their patients in exercise and physical activity programmes in order to  improve outcomes both for the patient and the clinic, hospital or practice.”

The platform can be used in countless scenarios, as Aoife explains. “It’s really for every patient; one of our clients in the US said that our infrastructure will benefit every person coming through their doors – and that’s true. No matter who you are or what you do, there’s always an exercise programme that can benefit your health and wellbeing – whether you have breast cancer, you’re recovering from a stroke, you have a pain in your back, you want to play sport and need to recover from a hamstring strain, there’s always an exercise programme for you.”

“We like to think of ourselves as pioneers in precision exercise, delivering the smart infrastructure that allows practitioners select and guide the patient in choosing the right exercise, at the right time and in the amount of time the patient has to engage in exercise.”

 

US growth ambitions

Headquartered in Kerry with offices in the UK and the US, Salaso is going from strength to strength. “There are huge opportunities for our platform in the US due to the direction that healthcare is taking over there – it’s very much about keeping people out of hospitals and surgeries, and that’s what our platform feeds into. We have an office on the East Coast and also in Nevada, working to target the value-based care market on the West Coast.”

That opportunity has grown even more due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as Aoife explains. “The pandemic changed the delivery and the consumption of healthcare forever, which is a good thing for many people, as there’s easier access to the care that they need – because the technology is  available and the infrastructure is there in the hospitals. The behaviour has changed too, now that digital healthcare is accessible. Think of someone who’s had a stroke or suffers from Parkinson’s disease who needs to access care or follow-up physiotherapy – before they would have been reliant on someone driving them there, maybe a son or daughter who has to take time off work, now they can access the care they need from the comfort of their own home.”

This, coupled with the fact that patients are becoming more educated about the many different forms of healthcare, has resulted in Salaso becoming a much sought-after platform.

“More patients are also now more involved and informed about their options; if there’s an exercise programme that might help postpone a surgery or improve recovery, then they want to know about it.”

“All of the evidence shows that if you engage with prehabilitation before surgery, the outcomes post-surgery are better. Even if you look at an area like cancer, exercise not only improves quality of life but it can also have a positive effect on survivorship.”

As Salaso grew, so did its need for market research; as Enterprise Ireland clients, the company was able to avail of the Market Research Centre to help them recognise opportunities and understand new markets. “We used the Market Research Centre for accessing a lot of the reports for the overseas markets, the US in particular,” Aoife explains.

“The centre was very useful for segmenting the industry, as well as identifying the possible leads that we could go after. It also helped us in understanding the market in the US, how reimbursement worked, and what has changed in the last 12 months. ” says Aoife

“The centre was very useful for segmenting the industry, as well as identifying the possible leads that we could go after. It also helped us in understanding the market in the US, how reimbursement worked, and what has changed in the last 12 months. For instance, a year ago, tele-health wasn’t reimbursed, but during the pandemic, reimbursement for tele health was brought in temporarily, and now it appears to be here for the long-haul. Getting information on topics like this is so useful when navigating a complicated market like the US healthcare market.”

The pandemic has accelerated Salaso’s growth as a company but expanding too fast can have its pitfalls too – and again, the data provided by the Market Research Centre can be invaluable. “There’s great opportunity for us to expand right now but we’re still an SME with limited resources, so knowing the best use of those resources is critical for the future of the company. And that’s where market research really comes in for a company like us.”

Learn how Enterprise Ireland’s Market Research Centre can support your company’s export ambitions.

Diversity in Blockchain

Diversity key to blockchain success

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Some of the most senior figures in Irish blockchain are succeeding, not despite moving from a tech background but because of it, delegates at the Blockchain for Finance Conference heard.

Co-author of the recent Government discussion paper on the subject of blockchain, Mai Santamaria spoke at a ‘lunch and learn’ panel discussion about her background as a native of Barcelona who studied and qualified as an accountant. She worked for a number of banks and insurance companies before joining the Department of Finance over 18 months ago as a senior financial advisor.

Canadian Coral Movasseli is managing director of Girls in Tech Dublin, a global not-for-profit that runs a number of programmes designed to encourage more women to enter the tech sector. She previously worked for the Canadian government’s foreign office, as well as in telecoms and banking before coming to Ireland to work as a professional services consultant.

Laura Clifford, industry partnership manger at the ADAPT Centre based at Trinity College Dublin, told the audience how she had studied biology at university and how this led to work in the medtech and subsequently the tech sectors. She now drives fintech collaboration at ADAPT, acting as the broker bringing industry and academia together to commercialise academic research.

 

Great opportunities in blockchain today

“One of the reasons I’m focused on blockchain is because of the opportunity it represents for bigger things and further collaboration,” said Clifford, who, along with others on the panel, co-created Blockchain Women Ireland, an initiative designed to encourage women to participate in this still nascent but fast-growing sector.

Fellow panellist Emma Walker, who is managing director of Wachsman, a dedicated professional services firm for the blockchain sector, spoke of her background as a Spanish and sociology graduate. The opportunity she was given, at age 25, to set up the European office of what at the time, three years ago, was a two-person operation based in New York, gives some indication of the opportunities that exist in blockchain, she said. Today the company employs 120 people globally.

Speaker Luana Cavalcanti is a UX/UI designer at TradeIX, a blockchain technology company who started out in the hospitality sector working on cruise ships. She changed careers three years ago by retraining first in localisation and has progressed rapidly, thanks in part, she said, to mentoring she received by other women in tech.

 

Careers for professionals of all backgrounds in blockchain

People from all backgrounds are required in the fast-growing blockchain sector, and not just as technologists, but as people who can best communicate the use cases to a wide audience, delegates heard. 

“Blockchain is fragmented and, as it is emerging, questions are arising in relation to regulation, to interoperability with legacy systems, to transitions and how to manage them,” said Clifford.

It requires people with change management experience, who have transitioned initiatives before, as much as it does financial experts and tech experts, she said. “That’s why I got involved in Women in Blockchain,” she told delegates. “As you can see from the panel, not one of us has taken a linear path into the blockchain realm. It’s a very enjoyable space and I wanted to be part of that journey.”

The ‘penny drop’ moment came for her in relation to blockchain while attending an earlier conference, where a speaker called blockchain the ‘TCPIP’ of our day.

Realising that cryptocurrencies are simply to blockchain what email is to internet, “I thought, here’s an opportunity for me to be part of something and not feel like an imposter. It’s emerging. The barriers to entry aren’t there and I don’t have to try and retrofit myself into it,” she said.

Blockchain represents a paradigm change, said Movasseli, and as such it requires a diverse set of skills to drive it forward commercially.

To succeed, it requires diversity around more than gender, said Santamaria. “If you’re the kind of person that is driven by learning something new every day, you can’t go wrong with blockchain because you don’t stop learning,” she said.

It also offers a clear sense of purpose. “It really does feel there is a wider purpose to the blockchain project because it is all about collaborating to actually improve things.”

 

Enjoyed this article? Read more fintech insights here.

Irish fintech sector poised for growth

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Fintech brings together two areas in which Ireland has traditional strengths – technology and financial services, Minister Michael D’Arcy told delegates at Towards 2025: Trends in Financial Services and Fintech.

Introducing the panel discussion, part of Enterprise Ireland’s International Markets Week in October, Minister Darcy said fintech is a natural evolution for Ireland, thanks to these strengths, as well as a deep talent pool, and unfettered access to European markets.

The strengths give Ireland a platform to build on, enabling it to be at the forefront of fintech development globally.

 

Driving Ireland’s thriving fintech sector

Several recent developments support the position, he said, including the establishment in April of the Central Bank of Ireland’s Innovation Hub and industry engagement programme, designed to ensure evolving fintech and the regulatory landscape keep apace.

In June, Enterprise Ireland launched a €750,000 Competitive Start Fund for fintech and deep tech. Earlier this year Enterprise Ireland, an active investor in fintech, began a fintech census to accurately map Ireland’s fintech sector.

In May 2019, Ireland will host a meeting of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), at which global standards pertaining to blockchain technology will be determined.

The Department of Finance has a working group dedicated to blockchain and virtual currencies and is commencing work on a successor to IFS 2020 – the national Strategy for Ireland’s International Financial Services sector.

Panel members at the event included Mo Harvey, fintech and financial services lead with Enterprise Ireland for Asia Pacific, based in Hong Kong, and Mai Santamaria, member of the Department of Finance working group on blockchain and digital currencies.

Joining them in the discussion, facilitated by Eoin Fitzgerald, Enterprise Ireland Senior Development Advisor for fintech, was Denise Delaney of the Central Bank of Ireland, and Laura Clifford, industry partner manager at the Adapt Centre – the Science Foundation Ireland-funded centre for digital content technology at Trinity College Dublin.

 

Growing interest in blockchain

Growing interest in blockchain was a key theme. When Laura Clifford began talking to businesses just 18 months ago about the potential of their blockchain technology, initially none of the 13 she canvassed were initially interested in doing collaborative research. That rose to three, with two more now wanting to be involved. “Appetite is increasing for blockchain,” she said.

Mo Harvey’s experience in Asia backs this up. “When we’re in the market and we talk to major corporates, banks and insurers, invariably when we are bringing in our companies (blockchain) is one of the first questions asked about – the second is AI. When a company doesn’t answer in the positive, it’s a case of ‘Why not?’”

The Central Bank’s interest is in the application of technology, rather than the technology itself, said Denise Delaney.

“We are talking regularly to all the various kinds of firms that we regulate, so we know how the business models are changing and so we know what they are doing. For us, the difficulty is firms outside of the regulatory perimeter, because we’re not accessing them.”

It’s one of the reasons it has created its Innovation Hub, to provide a direct point of contact with the sector’s leading edge.

As well as being able to answer regulatory questions, the Hub allows the Central Bank to gain intelligence on where the market is going. “That’s really useful for us and for ourselves internally. We have to build up our own expertise. We have to be able to use that data, analyse it, to be able to assess authorisations, particularly when they start coming in different technologies,” she said.

 

Moving from fintech to techfin in Asia

The move from fintech to techfin is gathering pace, delegates heard. The activities of Chinese companies such as Alibaba, WeChat and TenCent is driving this, and in the process forcing regulators to play catch up.

With a recent survey showing two thirds of Amazon Prime customers would bank with Amazon, how do regulators view the fact that businesses that are not typically regulated, and which don’t even present themselves as financial services companies, are encroaching into the area? asked Eoin Fitzgerald.

“Once they come into that space, they will come into the regulatory space and then they will be like any other regulated entity and will go through the same processes,” said Denise Delaney of the Central Bank.

“The same principles of consumer protection and sustainable business models and resilience will apply to any firm that begins to fall into that, whether they are big tech or otherwise.”

While everybody is aware of the scale of companies such as AliPay and WeChat, some of Asia’s predominance is down to the fact that the market is bigger, “it’s easier to do the 1 billion transactions”, said Mai Santamaria.

Neither do such companies have to contend with legacy systems. “Sometimes that’s the elephant in the room,” she said.

Moreover, with China, “we’re not really talking about private sector banks. We’re probably talking about publically owned banks,” she said. That makes direct comparisons difficult.

The other side of that coin is that Irish companies benefit by not having to go out and compete with a giant like WeChat or AliPay, she pointed out.

In Asia, ecommerce giants are applying for virtual banking licences, “so they are bringing themselves under the regulatory area, very much so, in partnerships,” said Mo Harvey.

This presents significant opportunities for Irish companies in areas such as digital onboarding and risk monitoring, she said.

The fact that Ireland is a small country is to our advantage, said Santamaria. “What I have seen in the blockchain work in the last six months is that when we get our heads around it, and sit around a table, we get to do things and we do them fast enough. That is where there is opportunity for us.”

This is particularly so because of the increasingly rapid pace of technological change. However, the challenge for fintech is that it is hard for the decision makers, those with the purse strings, “to understand what you are selling,” she cautioned.

“You can’t ask someone to look at potentially what it could do for them, if they don’t understand it. We take for granted that the tech is moving fast and getting complex, so the challenge is simple: as a seller of fintech or regtech, you need to be better at making sense of that message.”

For the future, the opportunity is clear, said Mo Harvey. “We are known as a tech hub, we are also known as a financial services hub. The opportunity is there to build on that. The foundations have been laid, the blocks have been built. Let’s see where we can go with that. Let’s be ambitious from an Irish perspective, as to where we sit on a global stage. That’s the opportunity.”

 

Read more about the Irish companies growing exports in the fintech space.

XOCEAN marine vessel gathering data

XOCEAN fills ocean data deficit with unmanned robot fleet

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In his previous life, James Ives was a customer of ocean data – but not a particularly satisfied one. As head of a marine energy company for more than 10 years, Ives relied on high-quality, accurate ocean data but found the process of getting that information both time-consuming and expensive.

“There is huge growth in the marine sector and the foundation of that growth is data. As a customer,” he says, “I thought there had to be a better way.”

Ives, who comes from an engineering background, decided his hunch was worth following. Last year, with the help of Enterprise Ireland, he set up his own ocean data services company: XOCEAN.

Based in Carlingford, Co. Louth, the company offers a range of turnkey data collection services for industrial, environmental and other commercial interests including data harvesting, fish stock monitoring, hydrographic surveys, environmental analysis and met ocean data.

“The big difference between XOCEAN and most other ocean data service providers is that we use marine robots known as Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs),” says Ives. “This approach offers three major advantages. First, it’s safer, as no humans have to go offshore. Second, it’s more efficient as our USVs can operate and collect data non-stop, 24/7. And thirdly, it’s around one-third the cost of conventional methods.”

The company’s XO-450 model looks like a miniature catamaran. It’s about the same size as an average car (but around half the weight) with a solar hybrid power system that provides a range of around 1,500 nautical miles, operating continuously for up to 18 days at a time. The system includes a wave-piercing hull design to ensure stability for a payload of up to 100kg of sensors and other equipment necessary for commercial ocean data capture.

 

XOCEAN’s journey to commercialisation

XOCEAN began with a planning and innovation stage, followed by building and testing the prototypes. According to founder Ives, the company is now transitioning into phase three, which is commercialisation of the product.

“At the moment we’re focused on industrial users including companies in the oil and gas sector and government agencies responsible for monitoring fisheries and the environment,” he says. “Our sweet spot is the continental shelf region where most ocean-based economic activity takes place, for example offshore wind farm developments.”

“We’re in discussion with some very large companies and there is a lot of excitement in the market, so things look bright,” he says. “Clients have told us that we’re just what the market needs, which is great to hear.”

The XOCEAN story took off when the company was taken into the High Potential Start-Up (HPSU) portfolio at Enterprise Ireland.

 

How XOCEAN was supported by Enterprise Ireland

“The funding is the obvious one but where Enterprise Ireland really adds value is in the expertise and experience they offer,” says James Ives. “When you go to them first with your idea, they really ask questions and challenge your business plan – it’s such an important and valuable way of knowing if the plan is viable. After that, if the potential is there, you have access to their support and that can make a difference for start-ups.

“Our decision to base the company in Ireland was a conscious one, and it was facilitated in no small way by Enterprise Ireland’s support,” he adds. “They are also great at opening doors and providing introductions, which has been a massive help in gaining traction in markets like Canada and the UK.”

XOCEAN’s successful start, he adds, is down to his “fantastically talented” team – and an urgent need for more and better-quality ocean data.

“According to the OECD, the ocean economy has the potential to double in value to $3 trillion by 2030,” says Ives. “So, the potential is vast but it’s all underpinned by a need for sensible development and that is dependent on a supply of high-quality, accurate information. More data leads to better decisions and that is crucial to the development of the marine environment.”

As an example of how the company works, in summer 2018, XOCEAN partnered with Ireland’s Marine Institute to collect data as part of the management of Irish fish stock resources. “The USV travelled 100 nautical miles out into the Celtic Sea and performed an acoustic survey that generated 110 gigabytes of high-quality data,” says Ives. “That information is now being used to provide a better understanding of our fish stock levels.”

In October and November last year, XOCEAN successfully completed demonstrations of their USVs over the horizon bathymetric survey capability. Surveys were performed in Carlingford Lough and the Irish Sea, controlled over a satellite internet connection by a team of USV Pilots in XOCEAN’s Operations Centre. XOCEAN’s XO-450 was demonstrated to be a robust platform for multibeam echo sounder surveys.

With the company also exploring international markets, it’s interesting to note that all missions are managed from XOCEAN’s base in Carlingford. While the USVs are designed to be transported by road, they can also be packaged up with a bespoke trailer and shipped anywhere in the world.

“We’ve been well received everywhere we’ve gone,” Ives says. “I think the international market recognises that Ireland is a hub for technology and innovation. Irish companies have a great reputation for innovative thinking, for hard work, for being easy to work with.”

 

For more information, visit xocean.com.