Twenty seven ‘disruptive’ projects approved under the government’s Future Jobs initiative will share a total of €75 million in state funding.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced the grants from the first tranche of the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund, and which will go to projects from sectors such as life sciences, medical devices, ICT, manufacturing, food, agriculture, energy sustainability and the creative industries.

Varadkar said that all include collaborations between startups, SMEs, multinationals and academic institutions. Every project involves at least one SME and many are led by an SME. Over the next ten years, some €500m will be allocated through the fund, part of Project Ireland 2040.

Varadkar added: “The Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund is central to the Future Jobs programme. It’s our way of stimulating private investment in new technologies and ways of doing business, and building stronger links between higher education, multinationals and Irish SMEs.”

• Download full details of DTIF beneficiaries

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Over 300 applications were made under the first round. The successful projects include

• ‘Irish Lasers for the Internet of the Future’ led by Pilot Photonics with Dublin City University and Trinity College Dublin as partners
• Advanced Environmental Decision Support System for Coastal Areas to tackle coastal pollution and flooding
• Cooperative Energy Trading System: a disruptive technology platform where consumers and communities will be empowered to generate their own electricity
• E-BAMBI: using 3-D printing to develop biomedical implants
• ‘Beyond Food Labelling’ led by IdentiGEN with University College Dublin as partner
• Therapeutic enzymes as a treatment for sepsis and other immune disorder diseases
• Disruptive gene therapy platform replacing viruses in the treatment of genetic conditions, led by Amryt Pharma with Curran Scientific, DEBRA Ireland and Charles Institute of Dermatology, University College Dublin as partners
• ‘Smart-Cardio – A Paradigm shift in Cardiac Arrhythmia Treatment’, led by Atrian Medical with NUI Galway as partner
• ‘ArtEngine 2.0: Bringing Automated, AI-Driven 3D World Creation to Market’ led by Artomatix with Black Shamrock, Keywords and WarDucks as partners
• ‘Blockchain in the Technology Product Supply Chain’ led by Exertis Supply Chain Services with Sonalake and CeADAR as partners
• ‘The Future of Colorectal Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment: Combining Tissue Responsive Probes, AI and Machine Learning to Transform Medical Care’ led by Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI) with Deciphex, IBM Research and University College Dublin as partners.

Photo: Leo Varadkar (centre) with ministers Heather Humphreys and Pat Breen. (Pic: RollingNews.ie)