Luxcel is a specialist producer of luminescence based gas and pH sensors and related tests, and under the new agreement, MOCON will invest €2.5m in Luxcel and support the company's business development plans and expansion into new global markets. This includes a new R&D investment programme, which is also being supported by Enterprise Ireland.

Welcoming the announcement, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan said: "This strategic partnership represents a major opportunity for Luxcel - it provides access to significant sales, marketing, manufacturing and R&D resources to target major global markets through MOCON's established international sales and service channels.

Congratulating Dr Richard Fernandes, CEO of Luxcel on his success, UCC President, Dr Michael Murphy commented: "This investment and partnership provides further evidence of UCC's success in commercialising its research and is a strong endorsement of the innovative and industry-focused technologies being developed here at UCC".

Luxcel was set up in Cork in 2002 with support from Enterprise Ireland to commercialise technology developed through state funded research at UCC. Speaking about the new partnership with MOCON, Dr Richard Fernandes said: "This collaboration is a perfect fit for both companies. Luxcel is fast generating an international reputation for the development and manufacture of highly innovative and sensitive photo luminescence based gas and pH sensors and related high sensitivity tests. MOCON, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, is a leading global supplier of gas sensing instruments, selling to the world's largest pharma, food and beverage companies. As part of the new alliance, MOCON will now design and manufacture dedicated instrumentation to measure Luxcel sensors, and will market these instruments and the wider range of Luxcel sensors in the US and other markets.

Welcoming the announcement, Frank Ryan, CEO of Enterprise Ireland, said: "This is a very exciting development and one that we greatly welcome. It demonstrates very clearly how innovative Irish companies like Luxcel can set their ambitions high, and devise and implement growth strategies that will see them break into and thrive in international markets. Enterprise Ireland has worked closely with Luxcel, from their early days as a spin out company from their research base at UCC on to their development as a High Potential Start Up. It is also a strong endorsement of the Government's focus on commercialising research from third level institutions, with spin-out companies emerging from research now contributing more than €160 million annually to the economy."

Picture L-R: Frank Ryan, CEO Enterprise Ireland, Robert Demorest, CEO of MOCON Inc and Dr Richard Fernandes, CEO of Luxcel Biosciences, announcing a major strategic partnership between Luxcel and MOCON Inc.

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