Bray firm in the mix for innovation award
A WICKLOW firm is in the running for a top innovation award
Megazyme International is among 21 finalists which have been shortlisted for the Irish Times Innovation Awards.
There are seven categories in total and Megazyme International has been nominated in the Life Sciences & Healthcare category.
The aim of the awards, which are now in their seventh year, is to showcase and reward excellence in innovation across a range of products and services.
Biotech firm Megazyme, based in Bray has developed a key enzyme that dictates the quality of malted cereal grain. It has followed this up with a new kit for meas- uring the key enzyme involved in ethanol biofuels production.
The winners of the competition will be announced at a high profile awards ceremony in early October in Dublin. Each category winner will secure a €10,000 media package with The Irish Times and an iPad with a subscription to The Irish Times e paper.
The overall winner of ‘Innovation of the Year’ will win a communications and advertising package from The Irish Times, worth in excess of €150,000. In addition, they’ll also win a UCD Smurfit Business School scholarship for an Executive Education programme commencing in 2017 and a state of the art laptop.
Michael McAleer, innovation editor at The Irish Times, described the calibre of this year’s entries as extremely high.
‘ This has been one of the most challenging, yet interesting years I can remember since we started the awards, with incredibly strong candidates fighting for a finalist spot in every category. I don’t envy the final judging panel who will have to pick a winner for each category, as well as an overall ‘Innovation of the Year’.’
While over 300 companies registered for the awards it is now just down to the 21 shortlisted entries who will present their innovations before a distinguished panel of judges in Dublin in June. The final judging panel includes: Dr Chris Horn, co-founder of IONA Technologies, Norman Crowley CEO & founder Crowley Carbon Ltd, Kevin Neary, co-founder of the GameStop Group, Helen Kirkpatrick MBE.