Designer and developer of novel and energy efficient clothes dryer, scoops NovaUCD 2012 start-up award
- PurDry has potential to disrupt tumble dryer market
PurOrigin, a new venture focused on designing and developing novel, energy efficient domestic appliances, has won the NovaUCD 2012 Start-Up Award.
In addition to the award PurOrigin was also presented with a €20,000 prize fund after being declared overall winner of University College Dublin’s 17th NovaUCD Campus Company Development Programme.
PurDry, PurOrigin’s initial product,is an innovative, energy‐efficient clothes dryer designed to create a new niche in the tumble dryer market. PurOrigin is specifically targeting energy conscious consumers in European and US markets who are demanding innovative, technologically advanced appliances such as PurDry.
PurOrigin's promoters Finbarr Maguire and David Ronan
PurOrigin’s promoters, Finbarr Maguire and David Ronan, have both just completed Masters of Engineering degrees in Energy Systems at the UCD School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and will graduate in December.
PurDry has been designed to create a competitive advantage over conventional tumble dryers. PurDry requires no plumbing or installation; consumes less energy and has lower running costs; produces lower CO2 emissions; is compact, light weight, mobile and folds for ease of storage and will be sold at a lower retail price in comparison with conventional tumble dryers.
Rising energy costs, poor efficiency ratings and greenhouse gas emissions are major problems for industries and consumers globally. These issues will continue due to the forecasted growth in the world’s population. The Green Consumer Guide for instance estimate that electric motors in domestic white goods use 60% of the world’s electrical power. Energy efficiency has also been identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as one of the key methods of mitigating climate change.
Given these problems there is an increased global demand by consumers for white goods with innovative design, which are cost competitive, energy efficient and have reliable functionality.
PurOrigin is focused on meeting this global demand by designing and developing energy efficient domestic appliances such as PurDry.
Finbarr Maguire and David Ronan together have over 15 years of national and international industrial experience in designing and developing a range of products in the electrical, biomedical, automotive and pharmaceutical industries.
In addition to the NovaUCD 2012 Start-Up Award, PurOrigin was presented with a cheque for €5,000 and will receive six-months free desk space at NovaUCD. In addition it will receive €6,000 worth of consultancy services from Deloitte; €3,000 worth of consultancy services from Arthur Cox; €1,500 worth of consultancy services from Aristo and €1,000 worth of financial services from Delaney Financial Consultancy and NewMarket Partnership. The AIB Seed Capital Fund will also provide an investor ready assessment of PurOrigin. PurOrigin will also receive a year’s free subscription to the AccountsIQ software which allows SMEs to manage their entire accounting requirements via the internet.
Over 190 new ventures and over 310 individuals have now completed the NovaUCD Campus Company Development Programme (CCDP), which is supported by Enterprise Ireland, and which has run annually since 1996.
The aim of this key UCD new venture support programme, held at NovaUCD over a 9-month period, is to assist UCD academic and research entrepreneurs in the establishment and development of new high-tech ventures to commercialise the output of their research activities. The programme assists participants in defining, developing and transforming their innovative ideas into sound and commercially feasible new enterprises and in preparing detailed business plans.
Speaking at the Awards ceremony, Professor Peter Clinch, UCD Vice-President for Innovation said, “Innovation is the third pillar of UCD’s core mission and two of the university’s key innovation themes are putting knowledge to work and growing and supporting new business. Through the NovaUCD Campus Company Development Programme we are supporting our researchers in a process to put their knowledge to work by establishing new high-tech and knowledge intensive ventures. These ventures are translating the innovative ideas which have arisen from UCD research programmes and activities into value-added products and services and in time these ventures will also lead to the generation of highly-skilled employment.”
Two other ventures, EgoNav Analytics and Yokie, participating on this year’s Programme,received runner-up awards, cheques for €3,000 and €2,000 and €2,000 and €1,000 worth of legal services from Arthur Cox respectively in addition to six-months free desk space at NovaUCD.
EgoNav Analytics is a new software venture which has developed a novel solution for identifying and highlighting real-time fraudulent behaviour in large customer datasets. EgoNav Analytics’ promoters are Dr Prag Sharma and Dr Lorcan Coyle of UCD’s School of Computer Science and Informatics and Clique, the Graph and Network Analysis Cluster.
Dr Lorcan Coyle and Dr Prag Sharma, promoters, EgoNav Analytics
Yokie is a novel people-powered search and discovery engine that harnesses the fast and rich content on real-time social networks such as Twitter. Rather than needing to crawl the entire webgraph, Yokie is capable of finding vast amounts of topical content up to 3 weeks earlier than standard search engines. Yokie’s promoter, Owen Phelan, is a PhD student in UCD’s School of Computer Science and Informatics and in the CLARITY Centre for Sensor Web Technologies.
Owen Phelan, promoter, Yokie
Congratulating all the participants on this year's programme, John O’Dea, HPSU Department Manager, Life Sciences said, "Enterprise Ireland is delighted to recognise the high level of entrepreneurial activity being undertaken at UCD and to partner with UCD in supporting the establishment of new market-led businesses. The enterprises which have completed this year’s NovaUCD CCDP have demonstrated great ingenuity in commercialising innovative technologies. They represent an essential element in realising the full commercial potential of the significant investment in research and development being made by the Irish Government.” He added, “Enterprise Ireland looks forward to supporting the success of this year's participants and assisting them to realise their full commercial potential.”
ENDS
21 November 2012
For further information contact Micéal Whelan, University College Dublin, Communications Manager (Innovation), e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie, t: + 353 1 716 3712.
Editors Notes
The NovaUCD Campus Company Development Programme (CCDP) is a nine-month, part-time programme designed to suit the busy timetable of UCD researchers and academics. It offers a mix of monthly workshops, mentoring and one-to-one consultancy and is delivered by UCD staff, with support from the NovaUCD sponsors, Enterprise Ireland, as well as other outside experts. It is designed to assist academic entrepreneurs in the establishment and development of knowledge-intensive enterprises by providing the skills necessary to transform innovative ideas into commercially feasible ventures via the development of a business plan. Participants on the programme have the opportunity to access desk space and incubation facilities and associated services at NovaUCD, the Centre for New Ventures and Entrepreneurs.
Innovation is the third pillar of UCD’s core mission alongside teaching and learning and research. The mission of UCD Innovation is to enhance the value and quality of UCD’s innovation activities in order to achieve a maximum impact for the University, its partners, and for social and economic life in Ireland in the wider world. At UCD there are four key innovation themes; inspiring creative graduates, putting knowledge to work; partnering with industry and growing and supporting new business. www.ucd.ie/innovation
