UCC research start-ups created 400 jobs

The IP-based companies have contributed more than €22m a year in salaries to the local economy since 2012.

Thu, 11 Mar, 2021 - 20:35

Alan Healy

Researcher-led start-ups at University College Cork have raised more than €50m of public and private investment in the past eight years, with 60 companies now employing more than 400 people.

GatewayUCC, part of UCC Innovation, made the announcement yesterday as it revealed the winners of its fifth Sprint Awards for 2021.

Since 2012, GatewayUCC's IP-based companies have contributed more than €22m a year in salaries to the local economy.

Sprint is designed to support early-stage start-ups working on technologies generated in UCC by UCC researchers and entrepreneurs.

This year will see 20 researcher-led projects sign up for the Sprint programme — an increase of 50% from last year. Some 40% of that cohort are female founders, which represents the largest intake of female founders in the programme’s history.

On the programme, pre and early-stage start-ups will be working with successful business mentors who will help to bring their businesses from the idea stage through to the eventual commercialisation.

Head of GatewayUCC and the Sprint Programme, Myriam Cronin, said: “The businesses and researchers supported by GatewayUCC have continued to innovate and evolve over the past 12 months, and have flourished, given the challenges posed by the global pandemic.

Sprint continues to grow year on year, with the biggest intake so far for 2021, providing a steady pipeline of technology startups from the university that will create growth opportunities in the future.”

Director of UCC Innovation Dr Rich Ferrie said: “UCC research continues to provide a wealth of opportunities to spin-out exciting new technology companies, and I’m delighted that over 400 high-value jobs have been created in the region through GatewayUCC."

The winners of the 2021 Sprint Awards are: