InterTrade funding applicastions to June 4

Michael Caulfield, Intelesens; Margaret Hearty, InterTradeIreland;  David Burrows and Dr Yvonne Nolan, Valentia Technologies.

InterTradeIreland has announced it will invest up to €175,000 in five North/South company-to-company research and development partnerships through its Innova programme.  Companies with innovative ideas which have strong commercial potential and an R&D partner in place are encouraged to apply for the funding by Friday 4th June.

Innova is the only all-island R&D programme which supports companies across the island to accelerate new product, process or service developments through partnering with a company in the other jurisdiction. As well as the financial support available, companies benefit from pooling their expertise and resources with another company anywhere on the island to bring their innovations to market faster than if they were working alone.  

Through the programme, InterTradeIreland has already invested over €5m to support collaborative R&D projects across the island.

InterTradeIreland’s Director of Programmes and Business Services, Margaret Hearty, said: “Developing and exploiting new ideas is critical to business success, particularly in the current climate. Companies need to innovate to survive and grow but many lack the resources to make it happen.

InterTradeIreland’s Innova programme offers an attractive support package for those companies serious about R&D and the unique opportunity to tap into the wealth of expertise that exists across the island.”

Most recently, two companies that have already benefited from the Innova programme are Belfast based medical devices company Intelesens and tele-health software firm Valentia Technologies in Dublin.

Together they have developed an innovative heart monitoring device that is worn by a patient in the home to monitor vital life signs in real-time and transmit this information directly to the hospital, GP, care-worker or member of the family.

Michael Caulfield, Chief Executive Officer at Intelesens said: “The Innova programme has enabled us to link with another Irish company with a healthcare database product which complements our wireless patch monitoring technology perfectly. The funding support from the programme will allow both companies to evaluate what is a groundbreaking health management service, with real global commercial value, in a critical Irish healthcare scenario - the management of the health of cardiac patients in their own homes by hospital-based cardiac specialists.”

The device provides an alternative to regular hospital visits and enables patients to benefit from the same innovative care at home that they would receive in hospital while allowing them to maintain their independence. The companies are currently working with Tallaght Hospital Dublin as part of a clinical trial with the hospital expressing interest in the product as a significant improvement on their current system.

Expressions of interest are currently being sought from InterTradeIreland for the Innova programme. Interested partnerships should visit the Innova website
www.intertradeireland.com/innova  for further information and to apply, or they can call 3083 4148.