What's the big idea? Keelvar wins award

This is Keelvar’s second big success in as many months. The company recently secured €750k in a funding round led by ACT Venture Capital and with investment from Enterprise Equity and Enterprise Ireland.

This is Keelvar’s second big success in as many months. The company recently secured €750k in a funding round led by ACT Venture Capital and with investment from Enterprise Equity and Enterprise Ireland.

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UCC spin-out company Keelvar Systems has won an Enterprise Ireland ICT commercialisation award at the Big Ideas Technology Showcase.

 

The award, which was presented to Keelvar CEO, Dr Alan Holland, recognises the exemplary way in which he has succeeded in bringing his publicly funded research idea from UCC into business reality. Cork based Keelvar emerged from the 4C research laboratory in the Department of Computer Science, UCC.

The Big Ideas Technology Showcase, an annual event that draws together inventors and investors, unveiled the latest collection of nineteen investment opportunities, each with its own merits and business potential. These ideas are the culmination of years of research by some of Ireland’s finest researchers, all in the spirit of solving real problems and creating opportunities. With over 300 potential investors on hand and stiff competition, this win confirms Keelvar’s ever-growing potential.

Keelvar has succeeded in solving a problem often faced by procurers in government and large organisations in particular. Procurers can sometimes find themselves constrained in how they interact with suppliers in a tender process, while at the same time suppliers can find it difficult to communicate creative means of realising cost efficiencies that can provide a shared benefit. In order to optimise procurement efficiency, Keelvar has developed and launched ‘smart’ procurement software, which can find substantial cost savings for public sector and other large clients.

Minister Sean Sherlock TD, Minister of State, at the Department of Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation and at the Department of Education and Skills with responsibility for Research and Innovation, presented the award to Keelvar.

Addressing an audience of investors, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and representatives from Irish and multinational companies, Minister Sherlock said: “The discovery, protection and transfer of commercially valuable intellectual property from ‘bench to boardroom’ is essential if Ireland is to generate more high-value jobs and exports. Enterprise Ireland has assisted the researchers here today to bring their technologies to the global marketplace. To encourage and further harness these innovations, the Government is striving to create the right environment where ideas can be identified, protected and commercialised.”

Opening the event, Greg Treston, Divisional Manager, Research and Innovation, HPSU and Scaling, Enterprise Ireland, said: “The focus of the Big Ideas event is to facilitate interaction between the inventors and investors during the 150+ one-to-one meetings that take place. At Enterprise Ireland, we are constantly seeking to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship and to harness research, expertise and discovery in Ireland. We have a tremendously strong research capability in this country and both society and the economy can reap significant benefits from linking this research capability with industry needs, and from developing projects that can deliver measurable and cost-effective solutions.”

This is Keelvar’s second big success in as many months. The company recently secured €750k in a funding round led by ACT Venture Capital and with investment from Enterprise Equity and Enterprise Ireland.

Follow the coverage on Siliconrepublic.com:

Three academics receive Enterprise Ireland commercialisation awards

Cork start-up Keelvar Systems raises €750k in funding round


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