UCD spin-out LirOptic comes top for audience choice at Luminate NY Accelerator
29 October 2025
James Senall, President of NextCorps; Simon Forsyth, CEO and co-founder of LirOptic and Dr Sujatha Ramanujan, Managing Director of Luminate NY Credit: Luminate NY
NovaUCD spin-out company (opens in a new window)LirOptic has won the Audience Choice Award at the final of the 2025 Luminate NY accelerator programme in New York.
The company bagged a $10,000 (€8.6k) cash prize for the achievement.
Luminate NY, administered by non-profit organisation NextCorps, describes itself as the world’s largest business accelerator for emerging companies that have technologies enabled by optics, photonics, and imaging.
LirOptic was one of only 10 start-ups from around the world, and the only one from Ireland, selected to participate in this year’s programme, investment fund and competition. Each start-up received a $100k investment at the start of the programme.
The start-up’s pioneering optical lens technology operates without mechanically moving parts and improves the performance of compact camera modules (CCMs), which are commonly used in smartphones.
It will allow for higher-quality imaging, better zoom capabilities, and enhanced low-light performance, as well as freeing up space within smartphones by reducing the size of CCMs. CCMs are also essential in augmented reality and virtual reality headsets, MedTech, and space technology.
“Our participation in the programme has plugged LirOptic directly into the global optics ecosystem, in a way that would otherwise have been impossible,” said Simon Forsyth, CEO and co-founder of LirOptic.
“We spent time with the other cohort members, were partnered with carefully selected mentors, and were introduced to multiple potential suppliers and investors. The time spent in Rochester, NY, has helped us develop a more robust path to growth and scalability. We are not there yet, but certainly a lot further down the road.”
LirOptic’s technology was originally developed by (opens in a new window)Professor Dominic Zerulla following groundbreaking research carried out alongside his team at the UCD School of Physics.
The spin-out company was subsequently co-founded by Professor Zerulla along with Forsyth and serial optical entrepreneur Joe O’Keeffe.
Luminate NY’s seven-month hybrid programme is designed to help founders improve their investor readiness, as well as connecting them with resources to help them speed up the commercialisation of their technologies.
“Each year, the calibre of innovation in Luminate speaks to the strength of the programme and the unique ecosystem New York offers,” said Dr Sujatha Ramanujan, Managing Director of Luminate NY.
“What stands out in this round is how many of the technologies are positioned to not only transform markets like healthcare and advanced manufacturing, but also to accelerate growth in the semiconductor space, an industry where our region has critical advantages. Luminate ensures that these companies are not just developing breakthrough ideas, but are equipped with the resources, networks and capital to bring them to scale here in New York.”
By: Rebecca Hastings, Digital Journalist, UCD University Relations (with materials from Micéal Whelan, UCD Research and Innovation)
To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie
