Latest news with #NovaUCD
RTÉ News
22-07-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Irish medtech company signs global licence with Philips
Head Diagnostics, an Irish medtech company headquartered at NovaUCD in Dublin, has signed an exclusive global licence with Philips for a digital cognitive assessment platform. The platform enhances the ability of clinicians to detect cognitive decline at the earliest possible stage when new treatments may be most effective, the company explained. It said it would be rebranded as HDx Cognition by Head Diagnostics. "As cognitive impairment and dementia continue to affect millions globally, early and accessible diagnosis remains a critical unmet need," said David van Zuydam, CEO, Head Diagnostics. "Head Diagnostics will now integrate HDx Cognition, a clinically validated and normed cognitive and mental health testing platform, into our growing portfolio of neurotechnology solutions, empowering primary care physicians, neurologists, and hospitals to detect cognitive decline as well as mental health conditions early, accurately, and efficiently. "This opportunity is especially urgent given the rising prevalence of neuro-related diseases with many countries such as USA, UK, France, Italy, South Korea and Japan particularly focused on improving early detection," he added.
Irish Independent
26-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Kerry business selected for programme providing supports for start-ups developing new AI solutions
Ailtir, founded by Donagh Ó Buchalla and Adrian Smith, is a company which provides an AI platform that reduces much of the time and costs associated with the construction tenderising process. The Tralee-based startup has been selected to participate in the second six-month AI Ecosystem Accelerator Programme, which is being delivered by NovaUCD, an entrepreneurial hub, and CeADAR, Ireland's centre for AI, at UCD. The focus of the programme, which has just commenced, is to support a cohort of entrepreneurs who are developing disruptive AI solutions in a variety of sectors for a global market. Ailtir co-founder and CEO, Donagh Ó Buachalla, said he is delighted his company has been accepted into the AI programme. 'It's a fantastic opportunity to connect with world-class mentors and ambitious founders, and to accelerate Ailtir's mission to transform how construction teams approach tendering,' Mr Ó Buachalla said. 'We're looking forward to sharpening our product, deepening our impact, and scaling our solution both in Ireland and internationally.' Participants of the AI Ecosystem Accelerator Programme will receive guidance from CeADAR's AI experts and experienced commercial mentors, along with workshops on value proposition, scaling and investor readiness. They will also have access to collaborative co-working space at NovaUCD with the opportunity to connect with successful AI entrepreneurs, start-ups, corporates, investors and access to skilled interns. The programme is funded through the European Digital Innovation Hubs framework, an initiative with funding of €700 million from both the European Commission and the governments of member states. Enterprise Ireland is leading on the programme in UCD. The 2025 AI Ecosystem Accelerator Programme will end with a showcase event in October.
Irish Post
29-04-2025
- Business
- Irish Post
Irish medtech firm develops ‘powerful new tool' for cancer management
AN IRISH medtech firm has developed a new prostate cancer test which has been described as a 'powerful new tool' for managing the disease. Dublin-headquartered OncoAssure revealed their Novel Prostate Cancer Prognostic Test at the American Urological Association's (AUA) 2025 annual meeting in Nevada, Las Vegas this week. It is now available on the US market, allowing clinicians to offer improved personalised prostate cancer management services. The prognostic test designed to 'support clinical decision-making for men diagnosed with localised prostate cancer' the firm explained. Des O'Leary, CEO and co-founder of OncoAssure, pictured at NovaUCD in Dublin, (Pic: Vincent Hoban, UCD) 'The novel test helps assess the risk of aggressive disease and disease recurrence and can be used at two key decision points in the prostate cancer pathway, post-biopsy and post-surgery,' they added. 'By integrating advanced genomic insights with clinical data, OncoAssure Prostate provides a more accurate assessment of disease prognosis, empowering physicians, along with their patients, to make more precise and personalized treatment decisions.' OncoAssure CEO Des O'Leary said the launch represents a "major milestone in the commercialisation of the test in the US market'. 'Access to prognostic testing remains limited for many patients in the US, making the launch of OncoAssure Prostate especially timely,' he added. 'This test addresses a critical need by providing reliable information to distinguish between aggressive and low-risk forms of prostate cancer, helping to reduce overtreatment and improve patient outcomes.' Mr O'Leary further revealed that the firm is now focusing on developing their next product - a prognostic test for skin melanoma. Founded by Mr O'Leary and Professor William Gallagher in 2021, OncoAssure is headquartered at NovaUCD. See More: Dublin, Nevada, NovaUCD, OncoAssure, Prostate Cancer, US
Irish Times
22-04-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
‘We want to list our own business and grow it as a public company', says Irish fintech founder after €1m funding round
Irish fintech startup Assiduous is hoping to make corporate finance advice more accessible for SMEs following a successful funding round in which the company raised €1 million to support its development. And the company's founders are hoping this will help it on its journey to an eventual stock market initial public offering (IPO). After working for 20 years in corporate finance, Fergal Meegan told The Irish Times he wanted to find a way to give that same advice to companies earlier in their life cycle without the prohibitive costs for smaller companies. 'The goal is to make corporate finance advice accessible for smaller businesses,' he said. Mr Meegan founded the company with his long-time colleague Barry Murphy, to fill a gap in the market instead of trying to to compete with the major corporate advisory firms. 'Access to corporate finance advice is far beyond the average business owner,' he said. 'The vision for this business is to democratise access to that advice. When you get to enterprise level, you have the resources to pay whoever for whatever advice you need. But when you're on the journey [...] you can't afford that.' READ MORE Based out of NovaUCD , Assiduous has just launched its virtual corporate finance software service, Corporate Finance Autopilot. This seeks to support SMEs preparing for strategic, financing and liquidity transactions with the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Mr Meegan said the funding would allow the company to expand its technical team across 2025 and 2026 and to 'build the company for the next few years. That's what the money is for, as we try to inject three decades of domain expertise into the platform.' 'There are Silicon Valley paradigms around 'move fast and break things' but this is business owners and their businesses. There is no chance we want to move too fast and break anything for our customers. It's just too important.' [ UCD professor develops monitoring device that could help prevent stillbirths Opens in new window ] The founders are targeting growth to €1 million in recurring revenue over the next two years. 'After that, very quickly we want to go from €1 million to €10 million in revenue,' Mr Meegan said. The NovaUCD spin-off is collaborating with Euronext Group to facilitate access for Irish companies to markets earlier in their life cycle. 'We have been involved in the listing of more businesses in Dublin than anyone else, so we want to list our own business and grow it as a public company, to create an Irish multinational. We are not building this for sale, we are building the company to endure. All of the sustainable principles we have for our customers are the same principles that we want to grow this business.' The company has received support from Enterprise Ireland and is part of the European Institute for Technology Digital's Equity Portfolio. EIT Digital's interim head of acceleration and growth, Dénes Csiszár, said the company had 'prospects to solve some of Europe's critical strategic and financing challenges for SMEs using the latest artificial intelligence innovations'.
