Cork Institute of Technology opened its Innovation Week on a high with the Genesis Showcase of 17 New Companies, based at the Rubicon Centre, who are already hiring their first employees.
Sean Sherlock TD, Minister of State, Department of Enterprise, Jobs & Innovation and Department of Education & Skills with responsibility for Research & Innovation, launched 17 new companies at the 15th Annual Genesis Enterprise Programme 2012 Awards & Showcase, held in CIT on Monday 5th March.
As the keynote speaker, Minister Sherlock said “The companies presenting at this year’s Genesis showcase demonstrate how regional supports, working together, can fast-track company development across a range of sectors. Genesis is a leading example of this cooperation which includes Cork Institute of Technology, Enterprise Ireland, Cork County and City Enterprise Boards and the local Councils.”
The Genesis programme is CIT’s flagship development programme for entrepreneurs and is run in partnership with Enterprise Ireland and the Enterprise Boards in the region. The programme has a proven track record of success and to date, Genesis has supported almost 220 entrepreneurs and teams in starting their businesses, who collectively have raised over €102m in investment and created employment for approximately 2,000 people. In addition, over 50% of the businesses are trading internationally with some 40 businesses designated as “High Potential Start Ups” by Enterprise Ireland.
This year, 17 new companies completed the Genesis Enterprise programme representing a variety of industries – software, gaming, micro-electronics, new forms of media, food, medical devices and internationally traded services. At the end of each year’s programme, CIT and the Rubicon showcase the achievements of particular businesses in reaching commercial milestones, with Companies being recognised in an Awards ceremony.
Last year’s winner, ePub Direct, secured a €1.3m investment shortly after graduating from the Genesis programme and they now plan to expand their Cork based operation with at least 30 new jobs to be created over the next 2 years.
This year, the participants have the opportunity to compete for the first prize of a €50,000 investment from Enterprise Equity, AIB Seed Capital’s fund. Speaking on the night, Conor O’Connor Managing, Partner of Enterprise Equity, co-manager of AIB Seed Capital Fund, said: “AIB Seed Capital recognises the huge contribution which entrepreneurship has to play in the economic recovery. Incubation programmes such as Genesis play an important part stimulating and supporting entrepreneurship and both AIB Seed Capital Fund and Enterprise Equity are delighted to be associated with both the Rubicon Centre and CIT.”
Tony Morrissey of Adaptive Lighting was honoured as the winner of the Enterprise Equity Genesis Emerging Business of the Year, which secures a €50,000 investment from Enterprise Equity and a cheque for €2,500. Adaptive Lighting Ltd is a leading developer on novel Intelligent LED lighting systems. Their lighting designs incorporate state of the art LED technology combined with enhanced optical, thermal and electronic systems. Adaptive Lighting’s key customer focus areas are in the Life Sciences and high volume medical device manufacturing industries .The investment will allow the company to exploit these opportunities by starting to build a new management team. Tony Morrissey commenting on his award “Genesis has allowed me to focus commercially on developing a company which is delivering solutions to leading Life Science companies internationally”. (www.adaptivelighting.ie).
The Business Development Achievement Award and €1,250 went to Patrice Fanning, Technically Write IT. Technically Write IT provides outsourced writing, editing, and documentation solutions to both multinationals and smaller companies who develop software and high-tech products (www.technicallywriteit.com).
The Market Entry Success Award and a prize of €1,250 went to Ed Donovan, Heartaid. Founded in March 2010, Heartaid provides a doctor led cardiac screening service to schools, clubs & organisations across Ireland. Their service is ultimately aimed at reducing the incidents of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS) in Ireland (www.heartaid.ie).
Business Plan of the Year and €1,250 was awarded to Russell Quigley, Nixatel. Nixatel has developed a web application for the global taxi and private hire industry that allows electronic hailing from a number of web based devices (www.pickacab.com).
The Award for Market Opportunity Investigation and €1,250 went to James Kehoe & Mary Liddane, PIA. PIA is developing a cloud based service that will securely collect and analyse current and relevant data on policy decisions. (www.impactassessment.eu).
PIA was also awarded the Entrepreneurial Leadership Award. This Award is judged by the Genesis participants themselves for the person/team whom they felt had most demonstrated entrepreneurial ability, leadership and co-operative learning spirit espoused by the Genesis Programme.
The adjudication Panel for the 2012 Award combined the experience of an established entrepreneur with seasoned professionals and was composed of John O’Doherty, Regional Director AIB, Claire Nash, Owner, Nash19, Ian Venner, Director, Ernst & Young; Adrian Wall, Partner, Ronan Daly Jermyn, and Frank Walsh, Partner, Enterprise Equity Venture Capital Group.
Over 200 people attended the 2012 Genesis Showcase & Awards drawn from the regional development bodies, current and past Genesis participants, venture capitalists, private investors, the higher education community and the wider business community in the South West region.
John O’Doherty from AIB also presented the 2012 Genesis Alumni Award to Brian O’Keeffe of Somex (www.somexinnovation.com).
This award is presented annually to an alumnus of the Genesis programme who has made substantial achievements in their commercial field or has contributed in a significant way to the economic development of knowledge based businesses in the region. Headed up by Brian O’ Keeffe and Michael Wall, Somex started their business while participating on the 2004 Genesis Enterprise Programme. Since their launch, SOMEX quickly established a strong reputation for developing innovative products primarily for the beverage sector. The Company currently has customers in 45 countries across 4 continents.
Brian recalls his time on the Genesis Programme, “Acceptance on the Genesis Enterprise Program in 2004 was the catalyst to leave my existing employment and focus on the goal of establishing Somex as a significant supplier of test equipment for laboratories in the carbonated beverage industry. Together with my business partner, Michael Wall, we had the seeds of a good business however the progress we have achieved since 2004 would not have been possible without the guidance we received while partaking in the Programme”.
According to Michael Delaney, Vice President Development, Cork Institute of Technology “Both Brian and Michael are dedicated professionals. As a team they represent what’s possible for export led companies who choose the Genesis Programme as the starting point in developing and serving a world-wide demand. I know that Brian and Michael maintain close links with other Alumni, and can be seen as role models for everyone looking to pursue the role of Entrepreneur. We are delighted to honour them with this award, joining the previous recipients including Pat Ryan of Abtran, Cullen Allen and Colm O’Sullivan of Cully & Sully and Kieran Moynihan of IBM/Comnitel.
The 2012 Genesis Showcase and Awards are supported by the sponsorship of Cork Institute of Technology, Enterprise Ireland, Enterprise Equity Seed Capital Fund, Cork County & City Enterprise Boards, AIB, Ernst & Young and Ronan Daly Jermyn. Media partner for the Event was Thomas Crosbie Holdings.
The new 2012/2013 Programme is now recruiting for entrepreneurs and applications can be made online by visiting www.rubiconcentre.ie or tel (021) 4928900.
