Throughout University College Cork, there is an ethos of creating an environment in which academic excellence can be combined with opportunities for personal development. The Quercus Talented Students’ Programme aims to do just this, by supporting and promoting excellence in academia, sport, creative and performing arts, active citizenship, and innovation/entrepreneurship. Quercus awards up to three scholarships each year to students registered on an undergraduate/level 8 programme, who demonstrate an exceptional level of excellence in the innovation and/or entrepreneurial space.

• Test demonstrates a 15% increase in detection of preterm preeclampsia by using a new diagnostic method.
• UCC spin-out company Metabolomic Diagnostics hope their new test can increase detection rates and save lives.
• Difficult to predict, preeclampsia causes more than 70,000 maternal deaths and 500,000 foetal deaths every year.

On Thursday 28^th September and Thursday 5^th October, researchers, students, clinicians and members of the public from varied backgrounds will come together in UCC to develop solutions to a number of problems and needs within women's health.

UCC Spin-out Company ProVascTec has been accepted into the global startup program Creative Destruction Lab (CDL). Organised by the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, CDL is a nonprofit organization that delivers an objectives-based programme for massively scalable, seed-stage, science and technology-based companies.

Cork University Business School (CUBS) in collaboration with UCC Innovation are launching a new University Wide (UW) entrepreneurship module for all students from ALL disciplines (excluding first year students).

• Irish fintech company Exceedence Ltd aims to raise €500K to advance their innovative new software solution, exfin.
• The software speeds up the rollout of offshore wind, wave and tidal energy projects.
• Financial modelling for renewable energy projects can be costly and no current solution gives a proper ‘big picture’ view.

Researchers from UCC’s School of Mathematical Sciences and the Mercy University Hospital developed a mathematical model which analyses and predicts the incidence and prevalence of various diseases across the population and can analyse the possible effects of a range of ‘what if’ scenarios. This technology, which has been licenced to Laya Healthcare, won the UCC Licence of the Year Award at the UCC Research and Innovation Awards, held on June 1st. Laya Healthcare can use the technology to profile the risks for their customers and make commercial decisions around the building and costing of insurance policies.

The UCC Innovation team, and colleagues from across UCC who are involved in innovation and entrepreneurship, are delighted to bring you this summer edition of the UCC Innovates eNewsletter.  We hope that you enjoy this edition.

Cork based MedTech company CergenX, which is developing ground breaking technology to screen newborns for brain injury, has raised an additional €1.2 million in funding.

The funding will support the ongoing development of the Newborn Brain Screener. The company will now expand its team by recruiting highly skilled professionals in AI, Product Management and Software Engineering. By attracting top talent in these critical areas, Cergenx aims to build on its strong momentum to date and accelerate the product's path to market.

Recruitroo, UCC Start-up of the Year 2022 at the recent UCC Research and Innovation Awards, announced that it has secured a €1 million investment round, led by Delta Partners, with participation from Enterprise Ireland and several notable angel investors. The funding will empower Recruitroo - a platform that solves global labour shortages, to further develop its end-to-end global recruitment and migration platform and expand its presence in the UK and European markets.

With sustainability and the cost-of-living crisis at the forefront of peoples’ minds, many are searching for ways to reduce waste while saving money. This applies particularly to UCC’s community of 4,000 international students, of whom 2,000 arrive in Cork each semester for a short-term stay. 

Dr Waleed Faisal and the ArrayPatch team were announced on Tuesday 20^th June as the winners of the 2023 IDEATE Ireland business competition.

Climate scientists, the developers of the medicines of tomorrow, budding entrepreneurs and partners with communities were among the researchers to have their contributions to research and innovation honoured at the 2022 UCC Research Awards held at Devere Hall on Thursday, June 1^st.

The UCC Innovation team, and colleagues from across UCC who are involved in innovation and entrepreneurship, are delighted to bring you the Spring 2023 edition of the UCC Innovates eNewsletter.

Content in this edition includes:

• Women researchers won all accolades at the 2023 GatewayUCC’s SPRINT Awards.
• The awards celebrate the commercialisation of research to address key health, social and environmental issues.
• GatewayUCC supports researcher-led start-up and spin-out companies.

• Four women founders awarded €3.27m from Enterprise Ireland.
• The MedTech start-up prospects are shaping the future of healthcare.
• Women-led start-ups are pushing the bar higher each year according to new report.

• UCC Innovation launches digital badge in Innovation and Intellectual Property (IP) – the first of its kind in Ireland.
• Pilot course geared towards postgraduate students, researchers and staff in the UCC College of Science, Engineering and Food Science.
• Course aims to empower and educate researchers to be more informed about the opportunities around University IP.

FINTECHNEXT is a multi-million euro, four-year collaborative research programme between University College Cork and Fexco, supported by Science Foundation Ireland.

FINTECHNEXT’s objective is to undertake collaborative research focussed on technological innovation in financial services that will have a significant impact on the economy and society.

Inspiring women entrepreneurs event to be hosted in UCC

• One in five people in Ireland aspires to start a business in the next 3 years
• There are approximately 3,400 new business owners every month in Ireland. 59% are men and 41% are women
• Ireland has the third-highest rate for early-stage female entrepreneurs across Europe
• UCC event aims to inspire to establish innovative, global businesses