November has proved to be a successful month for NovaUCD, after several events and big announcements from the hub for ventures and entrepreneurs at UCD.
NovaUCD recently held its 2015 Start-Up Award ceremony, in which Phision Therapeutics was crowded as the winner. Founded by Dr Breandán Kennedy, along with help from Dr Alison Reynolds at the UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science and the UCD Conway Institute, Phision Therapeutics aims to treat vision loss through ageing and diabetes by developing drugs to effectively treat the problem. Along with the trophy, the start-up received a cheque for €10,000, and a professional services package worth €15,000.
The company was one of several which participated in UCD’s Venture Launch Accelerator Programme, a three month course which helps start-ups to develop through taught content and expert mentoring. It targets new ventures based on intellectual property from UCD.
The latest edition of the programme comes on the back of the success of UCD start-up Logentries, which was sold to Rapid7, an American IT security company, for $68 million in cash and stock options. Logentries had previously won the predecessor to Venture Launch back in 2010.
SiriusXT, another UCD spin-out which develops technology for its soft x-ray microscope, recently won €20,000 after placing first in the Dublin regional final of the 2015 InterTradeIreland All-Island Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition.
Also this month, the technology transfer office at NovaUCD created and launched an online licencing platform, for licencing technology developed in UCD. The system is designed to streamline the process, and allows for the purchase of licences online, rather than having the team negotiate deals with interested parties.
- By Cian Carton, News Editor
