ARDEE FIRM WINS €100,000 AS BEST EMERGING INTERNATIONAL COMPANY

Mcor Technologies from Ardee won €100,000 and the best Emerging International Company title at last night’s finals of the InterTradeIreland All Island Seedcorn Business Competition 08, held in Belfast.

The company, run by Conor, Fintan and Deirdre MacCormack, develops and manufactures 3D printers – their Mcor Matrix yields physical 3D objects from digital data and they are the only 3D printer manufacturer of this technology in Europe.

 “This Seedcorn investment is fantastic, not least in terms of profile,” said Conor. “We have spent the last three years working purely on R&D and we feel we are really ready to take off, so we hope our win will help get other investors on board.

 “Business conditions are tough for everyone and people are saying it’s the wrong time to launch a new product.  But we believe it’s the right time to launch a product that is easy to use and saves on time and money – and our machine is 50 times less expensive than those offered by our competitors.”  

 Seedcorn, the biggest business competition on the island with a €280,000 prize fund, is run by cross-border business development organisation InterTradeIreland.  The aim is to stimulate new start-up activity, accelerate commercial development and create more opportunities for private equity investment.

Best Emerging Company title and €50,000 went to Newry company Media Lightbox, which offers an innovative web-based media asset solution for storing and sharing media files. Winner of the €10,000 prize for the best venture for a university spinout or platform programme was web based recruitment company CandidatesDirect of Dublin.

 Announcing the Emerging International Company winner, John McGuinness TD, Minister for Trade & Commerce, said: “Even though the current climate is difficult, I am confident that indigenous companies will continue to play a critical role in our economy, and their entrepreneurship can help us grow out of this economic turmoil.

 “After all, today’s budding entrepreneurs are tomorrow’s big employers.  That is why initiatives such as the Seedcorn competition, a flagship initiative of InterTradeIreland, are so important.”

 Dr Gerard O’Hare, the chairman of EquityNetwork, the programme which runs the competition, told the audience that companies which have entered Seedcorn in the past have raised over €84 million of new equity funding.

 “The funding of early stage/start up projects, because of their nature, will continue to be difficult,” he said.  “The current economic downturn will serve to separate the companies which can demonstrate an innovative approach to survival with those unable to ride out the storm.

 “However, tonight is evidence that the island as a whole can produce business leaders capable of developing new, innovative ventures which can ultimately make their mark on the world stage.

 “It requires risk-taking and sharing, passion and commitment, collaboration and learning, and – most of all – the will to succeed.  Tonight, we celebrate the next generation of new, promising ventures.”

 Prizes of €20,000 each were also presented to the winners of the Seedcorn regional heats for Northern Ireland, Dublin, Munster and Connacht & Leinster.

·        See below for additional information and contact details for all the finalists.

FINALISTS 08

 Best Venture

CandidatesDirect of Dublin offer a system which helps organisations attract, screen, test, recruit and retain quality staff while dramatically reducing costs and administration.  The company helps organisations eliminate paper-based recruitment, increase the quality of candidates hired and highlight the return from third party job boards and recruitment agencies etc.

Contact:  Ken Cahill, tel: +353 (0)1 524 2266.   

Connacht & Leinster

Mcor Technologies from Ardee (Emerging International Company) and SOTA Orthopaedics from Drogheda (Emerging Company). Mcor develop and manufacture 3D printers - their Mcor Matrix yields physical 3D objects from digital data. They are the only 3D printer manufacturer of this technology in Europe and have developed the only 3D printer in the world to use ordinary/recycled paper. SOTA have created X-Bolt, an expandable bolt to replace standard screws in hip fractures in elderly patients with osteoporotic bone. The bolt could save the health service money by reducing the cut-out rate for hip screws -  even a 1% cut could save €2m a year.

Contacts: Mcor Technologies – Deirdre MacCormack, tel: +353 (0)41 685 8459; SOTA Orthopaedics – Brian Thornes, tel: +353 (0)41 980 6020.

Munster

HKPB Scientific of Thurles, Co Tipperary, (Emerging International Company) and Wavebreak Media, Cork City (Emerging Company). HKPB work in the biomaterials sector and plan to licence their unique proprietary solutions for the manufacture and use of calcium phosphates to the medical device industry. Wavebreak produce broadcast quality high definition film for the motion footage industry and numbers National Geographic, Fox Sports and ITN among their customers.

Contacts: Wavebreak Media – Sean Prior, tel: +353 (0)21 492 8963; HKPB Scientific – Donncha Haverty, tel: +353 (0)50 429 305.

Dublin

Contacts: Cool Power – Tom Bean, tel: +353 (0)1 210 8344; Flowers Made Easy – Eamonn Grant, tel: +353 (0)1 217 6100.

Northern Ireland

Learning Pool of Derry (Emerging International Company) and Media Lightbox of Newry (Emerging Company). Learning Pool provide a suite of e-learning subscription services to the UK public sector to help individuals and organisations improve service and encourage legislative awareness. Media Lightbox offer an innovative web-based media asset management solution for storing and sharing media files which may take the form of images, video, audio, pdf print marketing collateral, vector files, presentations, documents, fonts or 3D models.

Contacts: Learning Pool – Paul McElvaney, tel: +44 (0)28 7101 9383; Media Lightbox – Shane Meehan, tel: +44  (0)28 3083 4040.