Category: Irish Tech News

Sidero encourages primary school pupils to explore engineering with STEAM initiative

Sidero, Ireland’s software, cloud and digital transformation specialist, is bringing a fun and hands-on 10-week engineering programme to pupils in Ardkeenan National School, Co. Roscommon, in association with STEAM Education Ltd.

STEAM Education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Maths) is an initiative created to inspire children to love STEAM subjects, and increase their awareness of and interest in careers in these areas.

Sidero is introducing Ardkeenan’s 5th and 6th class pupils to the areas of environmental, mechanical, civil, electrical, and biomedical engineering during weekly interactive sessions. The immersive and collaborative Engineering-in-a-Box programme uses many recycled materials in fun activities with lesson plans provided by STEAM Education Ltd.

Exploring civil engineering, pupils were tasked with building bridges made of lollipop sticks that needed to be strong enough to hold a bottle of water. Delving into electrical engineering, the pupils tested LED lights and circuits to gauge the flow of electricity and experimented with floating boats to gain a better understanding of buoyancy, a key area of transport engineering.

With a fun and creative approach to biomedical engineering, pupils created cyborg hands out of foam fingers and looking more closely at environmental engineering, Sidero demonstrated filtration using water and tea leaves. For their final STEAM project, the pupils have the chance to put what they’ve learned into practice and make something of their choice – a train, boat, robot, or something entirely different.

The STEAM sessions come at a formative time for the pupils at Ardkeenan, as they prepare to transition into secondary school, where subjects like engineering are a feasible option for them.

STEAM Education’s ethos is rooted in inclusive and inspirational engagement, including practical, fun, challenging, and participatory methodologies – developed and delivered by and with relevant content and educational experts (including children themselves). The initiative follows a co-teaching model where real-life STEAM experts from industry and academia work with primary school teachers, using specially designed tools and content to encourage and inspire.

Alice D’Arcy, MD of STEAM Education, said: “Encouraging children to try these subjects in a fun way and engaging their creative and critical thinking brains at this age, with the support of real life engineers, is really positive and empowering – we are delighted that Sidero are so supportive of the children of Ardkeenan NS and the development of their future careers.”

Nicola Bishop, Engineer and Scrum Master, and Sidero lead for the STEAM initiative, said: “It’s so important to encourage an interest in STEAM subjects from a young age in an effort to narrow the technology skills gap across the board. It’s also vital to encourage more girls to pursue careers in these areas to tackle the gender imbalance in the industry. Programmes like this encourage all pupils to take the leap into the world of engineering and tech, but also shows girls that these are viable career options for them. I can see it’s giving them confidence to try new things – most girls wouldn’t have tried electrical circuits before, but they’re so enthusiastic.

“It’s clear that the pupils are learning how to think in a different way. Parents are telling me their kids are finding things in the recycling bin and building robots! It teaches kids that nothing creative is a bad idea; it could be a great idea that may not have worked the first time. That’s the beauty of engineering – if something doesn’t work the first time, then you go back and try again and make it better.

“Sidero is delighted to be involved in this worthwhile project and helping to nurture the next generation of technologists.”

MONEY JAR – The First Irish-Owned Digital Current Account Platform, Open an account in 5 mins.

Money Jar is a dynamic and revolutionary new approach to banking that allows customers to open an account when it suits and in just 5 minutes. Opening a traditional bank account in Ireland can be cumbersome, requiring a lengthy approval process and often a long wait time to get an appointment for a meeting in the branch. Money Jar is a digital current account with convenient sign up and, unlike other major fintech platforms, Money Jar customers get an Irish IBAN, can pay bills, and receive wages. Money Jar offers unlimited money jars that can be shared with friends, to help customers stay on top of personal spending and improve long term financial wellbeing through better money management.

Money Jar is an Irish-owned fintech business headquartered in Dublin. All funds are held by a Tier 1 state owned Irish bank, which is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Money Jar can set up digital current accounts quickly using its industry leading facial recognition technology. Money Jar has the best of what traditional banks have to offer, but with the convenience that all things digital can deliver, plus customers can talk to Money Jar’s Irish based customer care team if they need a helping hand.

Money Jar’s technology platform allows quick and safe identity verification to make the entire process straightforward and painless. Partnering with Mastercard, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Veriff and EML, Money Jar offers a safe and secure platform. When customers open an account with Money Jar, they are given a free virtual Prepaid Mastercard with contactless payments, at no additional cost. For those that prefer a physical card, they can order a Prepaid Mastercard from the app for €5, which will be delivered to their door. Money Jar fees are transparent and competitive. There is a monthly service fee of €2.99, free for the first four months, and pay as you go transaction fees. Money Jar promotes responsible, money management.

John Harkin, the Executive Chairman of Money Jar, said: ‘Consumers in Ireland have always been early adopters of technology, and this is no different in the banking sector. We know that *78% of Irish consumers manage their  money or make payments using mobile devices, and a quarter have a digital bank account. Digital banking in Ireland is growing at an exponential rate. At Money Jar, we have seen this trend first hand with our customer growth rate at 70% month on month. Money Jar is a dynamic new approach for customers to manage their money.’

Money Jar enables consumers on the Money Jar platform to transfer money peer to peer instantly at no cost, as well as enabling users to pay bills, set up standing orders, and direct debits, and transfer money in and out using SEPA, as well as using it for contactless payments. Accounts can only be accessed by using pass codes, biometrics, and a two-step verification, making a Money Jar digital current account a safe choice – no sensitive data is stored in the app or cached on the mobile device. Today, many people use two separate accounts, a primary account for bills and wages, and a secondary account for mobile transactions. Money Jar provides a one stop solution for all of these tasks that is fast, efficient and reliable.

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San Francisco-based Shippo Opens First European Office in Dublin creating 120 jobs

Shippo, a leading shipping platform for growing e-commerce businesses, today announced further corporate expansion – including the creation of 120 highly-skilled jobs – through the opening of a new European R&D Centre in Dublin. Shippo’s entry into Dublin aligns with its international expansion plans, which centre on growing its global workforce and expanding its shipping infrastructure and carrier ecosystem to an international market.

Shippo is the shipping platform where e-commerce businesses, marketplaces, and other platforms are able to connect to multiple shipping carriers around the world from a single API and dashboard. The company has raised over $150 million and was recently valued at $1 billion.

“We serve a growing, international community of merchants who are looking for a global end-to-end shipping solution,” said Simon Kreuz, President and co-founder at Shippo. “With our European team working with our US engineering teams in building a world-class shipping service, as well as spearheading new initiatives for the European market, including platform API optimisations, carrier integrations, and building a brand new mobile app, this new location will enable us to deliver more tailored programs to our customers and partners across Europe.”

Shippo has hired tech veteran Ashutosh Saxena as Site Lead and Head of Engineering, Europe. Capitalising on his nearly two decades of industry experience, including his most recent effort establishing and growing another Bay Area company in Dublin, Saxena will lead the company’s expansion throughout Europe as well as building out and managing the engineering team, and will oversee day-to-day operations in Dublin.

“Shippo’s vision is to provide Amazon-like shipping to all e-commerce merchants, and it is a wonderful career opportunity to join the company at this stage,” Ashutosh said. “As a home to some of the best engineering talent in the world, Ireland felt like a natural next step for Shippo as we continue our international expansion, and I’m excited to help lead this effort locally.”

“I’m really happy to welcome Shippo to Ireland and I’m delighted they’ve chosen Dublin for their first European office, creating 120 new jobs over the next couple of years,” said Leo Varadkar, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade, and Employment. “The pandemic emphasised the importance of e-commerce businesses for our economy and Shippo’s work in facilitating these companies is vital. This new R&D centre will greatly benefit from our rich pool of talent. I wish the team the very best in this exciting new project and ongoing success with their European operations.”

This announcement builds on several growth milestones Shippo has reached this year, including:

 

  • A new multi-year partnership with Shopify. As the leading provider of essential internet infrastructure for commerce, Shopify is partnering with Shippo to provide an end-to-end shipping solution to its merchants directly within the Shopify platform.

 

  • The launch of Shippo for Platforms. With this new product, e-commerce platforms and marketplaces can provide an improved shipping experience for their merchants worldwide directly within their existing platform experience – and do so without incurring additional development costs.

 

  • International carrier expansion. Building on its already extensive carrier ecosystem, Shippo expanded its existing service area through the introduction of seven new carriers across five countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. This expansion represents the first phase of Shippo’s international growth.

 

“The internet economy is still in its early days,” said Patrick Collison, Stripe co-founder and CEO, and a Shippo investor. “Shippo’s work orchestrating the world’s intricate shipping infrastructure will help millions of businesses around the world to expand their operations and reach new customers. That Shippo has chosen my home country–and location of Stripe’s second headquarters–as the basecamp for its European presence makes the company’s continued expansion all the more exciting.”

“Shippo is a welcome addition to the SaaS technology space in Ireland. The availability of multilingual technology talent here will help the company with this expansion of its operations into Europe. I wish them every success here.” said Martin Shanahan, CEO at IDA Ireland.

The local office will initially support Engineering, Product, and Design teams. Prospective employees interested in local opportunities should visit https://goshippo.com/jobs/. More general information about Shippo’s product and growth internationally can be found by visiting https://goshippo.com/.

Only a third of CIOs cite cyber-risk mitigation as a performance measure

While 94% of CIOs acknowledge some form of serious threat over the next 12 months, only 27% list business continuity and resilience as a top-three priority during the next 12 months and barely a third cite risk mitigation as a measure of performance. These findings come from the 2021 Global CIO Survey from Logicalis, a global provider of IT solutions.  

 The study which surveyed 1,000 CIOs from around the world, finds that nearly half of respondents (47%) see data breaches as the biggest risk to their organisation (an increase of 6% from last year). Following data breaches, CIOs state malware and ransomware (39%) as other key areas of concern. 

 The perceived risk of a data breach is likely to have risen due to the increase in borderless workforces as employees continue to work from home or adopt hybrid working practices. When they occur, data breaches can lead to a range of issues from loss of business-critical data and stalled business growth, and in the most serious cases – the complete shutdown of a business. 

 Less than a third of CIOs (30%) cite lack of staff awareness as a security issue, down from 50% last year. This perceived improvement in staff awareness is due in part to an emphasised investment in additional training and technology measures to mitigate security risks. In fact, over 50% of CIOs state their organisations invested in employee security training this year, likely to help prevent data breaches originating from employee activity.  

 Other areas of investment include:  

·         Security technology – 66%  

·         Business continuity planning – 40%  

·         Third-party support through expert MSPs– 35% 

 

However, CIOs still feel their organisations have a long way to go in investing in comprehensive security measures. Despite the rapidly increasing cybersecurity risks, more than half of businesses (55%) have yet to adopt a cyber-attack recovery plan.  

 Mark Benson, CTO of Logicalis UKI, said: “The pandemic led to a rapid shift to remote business frameworks and forced many organisations to set up temporary network security solutions in reaction to the larger cyber threat surface. One key element of the hybrid working structure is making sure everything stays secure—a task that is challenging in a decentralised workspace. Many measures have been implemented, but more action is needed to secure remote workers and increase business resilience. Failure to prepare is preparing to fail. Adopting a holistic cybersecurity plan ensures businesses are prepared for cyber-attacks and can quickly recover and resume critically affected systems and technologies. With a comprehensive plan, created with advice from a trusted partner, companies can rest assured, knowing they’re protected.” 

 For more information, and to explore additional key findings from the 2021 Logicalis Global CIO Survey, visit here. 

15 Irish Schools First in Europe to Achieve Digital Education Award

A group of 15 schools from across Ireland have been recognised for their use of digital technology at the European Digital Schools Awards, an ambitious new educational initiative which aims to establish cross-border networks and learning.

As some of first to take part in the initiative, the group of Irish schools helped set the benchmark for others to follow. They were officially recognised for their digital education strategy at an event held at University College Dublin today (Monday 28 March), where the Minister of Education, Norma Foley, congratulated schools on their achievements via video.

The European Digital Schools Awards encourages and recognises innovation, collaboration, and skills development in the digital sphere. With support from the European Commission’s Erasmus+ programme, leading technology companies such as HP and AMD, and a number of national education agencies, it is the only initiative of its kind in Europe and is aimed at providing pupils with the skills they need to flourish in the modern world.

A total of 100 secondary schools in five European countries took part in the pilot programme, with just 79 receiving the top award.

Following the success of the pilot, the initiative is now being made available to all schools in Ireland, Scotland, Lithuania, Serbia, and Slovenia, with plans also in motion to roll out the programme more widely across Europe.  As the programme expands, it will provide teachers and educational leaders with greater access to support and the opportunity to take learnings from other countries.

To achieve European Digital Schools status, schools must use the European Commission’s SELFIE self-reflection tool to assess their digital learning and teaching practices and identify areas where improvements can be made.  They can then access a range of expert support and resources to help them develop their digital curriculum in line with industry best practices.

Norma Foley, Minister of Education said: “The European Digital Schools Awards is an excellent example of industry bodies and educational organisations working together to support schools as they continue to incorporate digital technology into the curriculum.

“The success of the pilot programme across Ireland has been inspiring, and it is great to see so many of our schools involved. With the initiative now available to all Irish schools, we hope to see many more getting involved.”

Anna Doody from Digital Schools Awards said: “Technology has become embedded into our everyday lives in a way we never thought it would, and at an unimaginable speed. In schools, the transformation is especially acute following the proliferation of remote learning during the pandemic.

“As we guide our young people through their developmental years and into adulthood it is essential that we give them the skills, knowledge and confidence to be able to navigate the digital world effectively and safely.

“The European Digital Schools Award is not about urging teachers to use technology in the classroom. It is about encouraging an inclusive, and whole-school approach to digital learning, where everyone in the school feels supported and confident to adopt best practices.

“Our pilot programme exceeded our expectations, and we are thrilled to be announcing the roll out of the initiative across our five participating countries.

“One of the key benefits of the European Digital Schools Awards is it creates a network of educational professionals that can learn from one another. The more schools we have within the community, the greater the opportunities for knowledge sharing, and over the coming year we hope to grow the initiative, welcoming new member states and more schools into the fold.

Annmarie Whelan from HP, a central supporter of the European Digital Schools Award, said: “Understanding digital practices and having a familiarity with technology is an essential part of young people’s development, and can open so many opportunities for their future.

“We have been working alongside Digital Schools Awards for a number of years and have seen first-hand the positive impact it has made on hundreds of schools. We are proud to be on this journey and to be a part of the official launch of the European programme. We would encourage all schools to explore the opportunities created through this initiative and look forward to working with others in our sector and educational leaders to roll this out across the continent.” 

Donal Harford from AMD said: “The possibilities are virtually limitless for what we can achieve through advancements in science and technology over the next few decades. School pupils across Europe are the next generation of innovators and it is through programmes like Digital Schools Awards that we can educate and inspire them to explore careers in digital technology.” 

To find out more about how they can take part, schools should visit www.awards4selfie.eu.

Complete list of schools in Ireland to receive the European Digital Schools Award:

Blackrock College, Dublin

Borrisokane Community College, Tipperary

Castetroy College, Limerick

Colaiste Bhaile Chlair, Galway

Colaiste Bride Enniscorthy, Wexford

Colaiste Cois Life, Dublin

Dominican College, Dublin

Gaelcholáiste Phort Láirge, Waterford

Mercy Secondary School, Dublin

Muckross Park College, Dublin

Old Bawn Community School, Dublin

Our Lady’s Bower, Athlone, Westmeath

St. Aloysius College, Cork

Saint Kevin’s Community College, Dublin

Saint Kevin’s Community College, Wicklow

 

Poolbeg Pharma signs Artificial Intelligence deal with CytoReason to identify drug targets for influenza

Poolbeg Pharma (AIM: POLB, ‘Poolbeg’ or the ‘Company’), a clinical stage infectious disease pharmaceutical company with a unique capital light clinical model, has signed a deal with CytoReason, a leading artificial intelligence (AI) company developing computational disease models for efficient drug discovery and development, to provide AI analysis of Poolbeg’s influenza disease progression data derived from human challenge study samples.

The partnership will harness the insights of Poolbeg’s unique repository of influenza human challenge trial* data and is another significant milestone in its strategy to leverage its proprietary databank to identify new pharmaceutical assets using artificial intelligence. CytoReason has built world-class validated AI models which can extrapolate immune cell behaviour based on bulk transcriptomics, making it an ideal partner to maximise the insights of Poolbeg’s influenza data. To date, five of the world’s top ten pharma companies use CytoReason’s technology including Pfizer, Sanofi, Merck KGaA and Roche. Poolbeg’s ability to execute a deal of this nature with a company of CytoReason’s stature is a testament to the quality of Poolbeg’s proprietary databank which will significantly improve the outputs of the collaboration.

 The partnership will bring Poolbeg’s unique repository of clinical samples and associated data from influenza human challenge trials together with CytoReason’s leading and validated AI technology. This will enable a deep understanding of the mechanism of influenza infection and recovery and, as a result, help identify novel drug targets for the disease. Poolbeg’s datasets for influenza are already tailored for incorporation into CytoReason’s platform algorithms. Both CytoReason and the Company are excited about the unique and novel disease-relevant insights, which have the potential to transform how influenza is currently treated. The project is due to commence immediately with a full work programme already agreed, and first results expected in H1 2023.

 CytoReason’s machine learning algorithm works by combing through enormous repositories of clinical data to build models of human disease, which can then be used by biotech and pharmaceutical partners to identify novel targets, prioritise mono/combination therapies, find biomarkers, and understand which patients will benefit most from those new treatments. CytoReason will build a tailored AI model using its existing clinical data in conjunction with Poolbeg’s human challenge data to maximise the insights generated. As a result, CytoReason will be able to prioritise new drug targets quickly and cost effectively, in a manner consistent with Poolbeg’s business model. Based on the target identification insights generated from the analysis, the Company plans to source drugs with existing Phase I safety data that can immediately continue clinical development to rapidly generate early human proof of concept data for influenza, with the ultimate aim of monetising the asset through partnerships and licensing deals with pharma and biotech.

 

This is the first time that AI analysis has been undertaken on influenza human challenge disease progression data and samples. Data from human challenge studies are unique in that they track a healthy subject through disease to recovery in carefully controlled and monitored isolation units, collecting samples throughout the course of disease, and vitally collecting matched baseline and follow-up samples before and after infection. CytoReason will be analysing blood transcriptomics, proteomics, DNA sequences and viral loads and disease signs and symptoms from the human challenge studies.

This deal comes at a time when the threat of influenza is significant. Cases are at their highest globally since the COVID-19 pandemic began where pre-pandemic one in eight people were affected, resulting in five to ten million hospitalisations and 500,000 deaths each year. Poolbeg’s asset, POLB 001, which is progressing towards its first human challenge trial in June 2022, was identified using the unique disease progression data available from human challenge trials. By utilising AI, the Company will identify more targets, quicker and more cost effectively than previously possible without this technology.

This is Poolbeg’s latest AI deal following the partnership with OneThree Biotech, Inc. announced in February 2021 to identify new drug targets and treatments for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (‘RSV’).

 

Jeremy Skillington, PhD, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma, said:

“This exciting deal is all about creating opportunities. Opportunities to unlock the potential of our unique bank of human challenge data. Opportunities to develop drugs for infectious disease more quickly and cost effectively. And opportunities to tackle the growing global threat of influenza.

“This is the first time AI analysis will be undertaken on influenza human challenge trial data and we look forward to the results early next year. We are delighted to be working with such an industry leading partner as CytoReason and using cutting-edge AI technology as we continue to develop and progress our innovative infectious disease drug pipeline.”

 David Harel, CytoReason’s CEO, said:

“We are excited about the potential of Poolbeg’s data and are delighted to be the first AI company to analyse Influenza human challenge data. Our top-tier scientists, along with our platform of computational disease models, will enable Poolbeg to significantly shorten the drug discovery time for Influenza treatments, dramatically reduce the costs involved, and ultimately help more patients.”

Google.org Provides €250k Grant to Support spunout to Establish “Empathy Academy” for Irish Young People

Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, has announced it will support spunout to establish a peer led empathy education programme over the next two years with a €250k grant. In developing the platform, spunout is building on its work in the areas of digital citizenship, mental health and social-emotional learning to help build a safer digital experience for young people.

The grant will be used to develop and roll out an innovative and scalable empathy education program.  Offering a range of peer-led resources designed to help make the internet a kinder space, the empathy-based learning platform will support:

  • Young people at risk of engaging in harmful or illegal behavior online

  • Young people at risk of being victims of harmful or illegal behavior online, especially young people targeted with hatespeech and discrimination such as young women, members of LGBTI+ communities, people with disabilities, and BIPOC

  • Young people who have or might witness harassing, bullying or dangerous behavior online.

The programme will provide a toolkit for building skills in the areas of self compassion, healthy communication, emotional regulation, and conflict resolution and resilience. With grant support from Google.org, spunout’s empathy focused learning programme will deliver a curriculum of interactive, accessible and jargon-free content designed to empower young people with the tools to self-regulate, engender empathy and to engage in bystander intervention online.

Kiki Martire, Director of spunout, commented:

“The core values of spunout are empathy, equity and innovation, and this opportunity to develop the Empathy Academy with  grant support from Google.org, is truly at the perfect intersection of all three. Empathy is an undercurrent in all of our work; empathy for self, empathy for and between young people, empathy in action, empathy in information, and empathy online. We want to be a platform that facilitates the true understanding of empathy, the practice and spread of empathy amongst young people and their communities, and providing quality information as a tool for building empathy. The Academy will enable spunout to empower and support young people to navigate their digital worlds in ever safer and healthier ways, and to connect with each other empathetically in every step of that process.”

Speaking at today’s announcement, Ryan Meade, Public Policy & Government Relations Manager, Google, said:

“At Google, we are committed to playing our part in ensuring that the wellbeing and safety of young people is central to all digital learning experiences. Keeping people safe online is at the heart of everything we do, and we continue to innovate as new challenges emerge. We’re also committed to supporting spunout to foster digital wellbeing and teaching empathy online. Peer led support plays a huge role in equipping children and young people with the right knowledge and tools to navigate the online world. I am delighted to be here today to announce our grant from Google.org and I look forward to the roll out of this innovative empathy focused learning platform.”

On 21st March, to mark the inception of spunout’s empathy learning platform, spunout’s Mental Health content editor, Joseph Morning, will lead a virtual panel discussion of spunout Action Panel members and volunteers to explore their experiences of empathy (or lack thereof) online. Kiki Martire, Director of spunout, and Almudena Lara, Senior Manager, Child Safety at Google, will reflect on the need for empathy based interventions and why Google.Org is supporting spunout in this work.

As part of the announcement, spunout asked a number of Ireland’s young people [aged 16 -25] what empathy means to them, see what they said here.

Glofox to Grow Headcount by 150 This Year

Glofox, one of the fastest growing fitness business management software platforms, today announced its plans to hire 150 new employees throughout 2022, bringing their headcount to 350. This follows on the back of continued strong growth with the team doubling in size to 200 in 2021. Glofox  serves 80 countries, supporting 17 languages and 40 currencies,with plans to invest more to support payments in the Middle East as well as explore how to better serve LATAM

The innovative platform provides powerful, easy to use software for studio operators and staff, a seamless and engaging multi-platform member experience, and network-wide management solutions for franchisors.

Glofox’s all-in-one platform replaces outdated and over complicated systems with a streamlined experience for members and staff alike. Built to address the intricacies that come with managing both independent fitness businesses and large fitness franchises, the platform delivers a powerful suite of tools to drive success and empower operators globally.

Glofox recently announced its partnership with Xponential Fitness, a curator of leading brands across a variety of verticals in boutique fitness including Club Pilates, Pure Barre, Rumble and CycleBar, to support its network of franchise partners as it expands into new markets beyond the United States.

Conor O’Loughlin, Glofox CEO said, “The hiring of 150 new roles as part of our continued expansion, is an exciting step as we continue to capture new global markets. Glofox employees will have significant opportunities to enhance their careers across a fast-growing and dynamic sector. Each member of the team will play a key role in further driving our commercial expansion or in the development of new industry leading solutions.”

Approximately 40% of the new roles will be in Research and Development, with the rest consisting of specialists to support customer success and growth as Glofox continues their strong growth and further develops their innovative software and customer offering.

Glofox is a fully remote company that takes pride in its employee satisfaction rate. The Founding team have made it a priority to ensure that their company is a healthy and enjoyable place to work, implementing regular pulse surveys as one method of measuring sentiment. The company hosts a wealth of employee benefits to drive wellbeing and balance, including Unlimited Annual Leave, monthly Mental Health half day Fridays, Gym and wellness stipends as well as Pawternity Leave (for people who’ve just welcomed a new pet into their home). These are just a few of the many initiatives Glofox employs to deliver care to its team. This has led to a collaborative environment driven by trust and a genuine shared passion for the company vision among its employees.

“The ability to successfully drive our vision forward is in the collective hands of our global team. Being totally remote allows us to welcome talented people from anywhere in the world, whilst our responsibility to support them to live healthy, well-balanced lives is something we consider to be crucial in creating an exceptional working environment” said Conor O’Loughlin, Glofox CEO.

Bord na Móna announces eight Irish scaleup companies for its Accelerate Green programme

Bord na Móna has today announced the eight companies which have been chosen to take part in Accelerate Green, the first  accelerator programme aimed at supporting early-stage companies leading the response to climate action and sustainability.

The new accelerator programme for sustainable business, Accelerate Green, is delivered by Resolve Partners and sponsored by Bord na Móna. It is the first accelerator of its kind in Ireland dedicated to supporting companies developing products and services based on green innovation. Accelerate Green will help the eight business leaders identify clear pathways to scaling their novel solutions, delivering measurable impact and supporting economic development.

The innovation and potential of Irish business can be seen in the different business models and focus of each of the companies selected. Real Leaf Farm, for example, has developed Ireland’s first 100% Hydroponic farm which grows salad vegetables 365 days a year, while Positive Carbon has enabled hotels and food service providers to develop waste reduction strategies through waste sensors and food detection AI.

The eight companies selected for the Accelerate Green programme are: EpiSensor, Borrisoleigh Bottling Ltd, CameraMatics, Positive Carbon, Real Leaf Farm, Automsoft, Go Eve and Jones Celtic Bioenergy Ltd (JCBE).

Speaking at the launch of Accelerate Green, Tom Donnellan, Chief Executive, Bord na Móna, said: “We are delighted to be announcing the eight companies that have been selected to take part in the Accelerate Green Programme. As a climate solutions company Bord na Móna is determined to help these companies deliver novel solutions to enable a low-carbon economy while delivering sustainable jobs.  Accelerate Green is an excellent opportunity for our eight selected companies to engage with key industry partners and gain potential financial investment.”

Emphasising the commercial scalability that is at the heart of Accelerate Green, Alan Costello, Resolve Partners said; “it is significant to note that as a group, the eight participating companies, currently already employ over 120 people, and have raised over €20M in funding. This sharpens the programme’s focus, to support these companies in becoming the next leaders in their sectors, and to inspire and signpost other startups and scaleups across Ireland towards success.”

Over the course of the programme the eight companies will be brought through a series of deep learning and mentoring sessions and will engage with a broad array of speakers from enterprise and energy agencies, Irish corporates, research networks, investors, and successful business leaders. The programme will be delivered in person at a former Bord na Móna site in Boora, Co. Offaly.

The companies will also be able to avail of up to €20,000 of research funding with Irish university researchers. Following the completion of the programme the companies will participate in a leading industry conference, “Ireland Sustainable Future”, taking place in June, to coincide with the programme finish date