regional development centre

the link
issue one spring 2008

inside: Bright Lights Beckon, Ageing Gracefully, A Standing Novation for Entrepreneurs and more . . .
 Contents Foreword
Welcome to our first issue of LINK,
the newsletter of the Regional
Development Centre (RDC) based at

2
Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT).

Foreword by Since we opened in 1989, we have

worked to highlight the opportunities
Irene McCausland and need for innovation, technology
transfer and enterprise in the region.

3
Working closely with partner
organisations such as Enterprise
Ireland, IDA, Louth County Enterprise
News Board, Louth County Council, FAS and
in Brief other Third Level Sector organisations
as well as a range of partner Irene McCausland, RDC Manager
organisations from Northern Ireland,

4
we aim to make a positive contribution to the economic development
of the region through the growth and development of innovative
businesses and enterprises.
Bright
Lights Beckon We act as the commercially oriented interface between DkIT and
the industrial, commercial and business life of the region to make
available the expertise, facilities and resources of the Institute for the
wider benefit of the regional economy. With a dedicated team of 12

6
people, we achieve this through a range of programmes and activities
A Standing including research and development and technology transfer;

Novation entrepreneurial development programmes; provision of incubation

facilities for knowledge-based enterprises; applied research with
for Entrepreneurs industry and a range of sectoral and regional development initiatives.

At the RDC and at our off-campus facility at Millmount in Drogheda,

7
we have incubation units for fledgling technology-based businesses
to help them find their feet. Many of our high potential business
Digitally Diverse
start ups, who have stayed on with us, are now growing fast and
providing additional employment in the region. Our entrepreneurial
Ageing Gracefully development programmes such as the Novation Enterprise Platform
Programme (NEPP) and The New Media Factory are helping
innovative entrepreneurs to get established.

8
For those at an exploratory stage in business, we offer a cross-border
The pre-incubation programme, Border Innovation Gateway, aimed at

Winds helping budding entrepreneurs to research and assess if their idea is

of Change
The Regional Development Centre (RDC) is a centre to promote
innovation, technology transfer and enterprise in the wider region and
is based on the DkIT Campus. The centre receives generous funding from
the following organisations
sound and they are the right people to take the idea forward.
Our successful start-up companies are often joint ones with our
partner organisations, who also have provided funding and assistance
and include Movidia, who have scooped the top prize at the Seedcorn
competition, Big Mountain, Armac Systems and many others.
The Centre is a hive of new innovations. Since the Bright Room, the
high definition post-production facility, has opened in the last couple
of years, we are seeing a big surge in new creative digital media
businesses.

Our centre also houses several international research projects.

These include the Centre for Renewable Energy at Dundalk Institute
Issue 1

of Technology (CREDIT), the ground breaking Smooth Muscle

Regional Development Centre Dublin Road Dundalk Co Louth
T | +353 42 9331161 F | +353 42 9331163
W | www.rdc.ie E | info@rdc.ie
LINK
Project, which is the largest group of researchers in physiology and
electrophysiology of smooth muscle in Ireland and the UK and the
community based Nestling Project which aims to influence how we
can provide improved care and services for our increasingly elderly

population.
Great care has been taken to ensure that this information is accurate,
but the Regional Development Centre, including its subsidiaries does not We hope you enjoy this first edition of LINK. In our next editions we
accept responsibility or liability for errors or information which is found will aim to cover a wide range of diverse and exciting stories about
to be misleading.
the activities within our Centre.
2
 3
News in Brief

LINK
BIG idea helps Jo to start global business

Dr. Jo McKelvie, Kieran Fegan, Audrey McKeown and Frank Rice, BIG Programme
Entrepreneur and vet, Dr. Jo
McKelvie has established a new
business, with help from the
cross-border Border Innovation
Gateway (BIG) pre-incubation
programme, which is designed
to support innovative ideas
in technology or knowledge
based areas, at an early stage of
development.
Her new consultancy Evita
Services, runs and advises on
pharmaceutical veterinary
clinical trials. It now has a global
market with a great demand
for her specialist skills and
worldwide experience.
Initially, Jo found it hard to turn
her ideas into a functioning
business. She joined the
twelve week business ideas
development programme BIG, to
really focus on whether her idea
had the potential it needed to
be successful and to get advice
on all the practical business and
market research issues.
“The BIG programme has
been invaluable to me.
I hadn’t taken the time
to look at what running
a business meant for
me and how this would
differ from being an
employee,”
Kieran Fegan, Centre Manager
of Greenshoots Newry Ltd,
BIG lead partner organisation,
spoke about Jo and the BIG
programme. “The programme
gave Jo the tools she needed to
manage the development of her
innovative ideas.”
Issue 1
“In the last year, we have helped
businesses such as Neuralcore
Technologies, in Dundalk
who make bespoke high-end
computers for gamers and users
with special requirements, two
renewable energy projects in
the Newry area focussed on
wind power generation and
solar panel technology and we
are currently assisting amongst
others, Formworks3D, a new
design engineering company,
Adran Solutions, a company that
specialises in HR consultancy
and E-nable Design, a new
touchscreen technology e-media
company.
This programme is part financed
by the EU through the Interreg
111A Programme and is a joint
initiative of Greenshoots Newry
Ltd, Regional Development
Centre and Southern Regional
College.

Barrack Street development New

gets underway research for
Wind
Turbine
Energy
storage
Larry Staudt and the CREDIT Team

Plans are underway for the innovative new community based housing at peak times or
New research is underway
project for older people at Barrack Street, Dundalk. The project during low wind
by the Centre for Renewable
is part funded by the Atlantic Philanthropies and initiated by the periods when
Energy at Dundalk Institute
Nestling Project Consortium which includes the Local Authority, production
of Technology (CREDIT) into
Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Netwell Centre at Dundalk is lower.
battery storage for the surplus
Institute of Technology (DkIT). This will
energy that the DkIT campus
lower
wind turbine generates at energy
The Nestling Project aims to encourage community cooperation and
windy times. costs
models of integrated care along with the harnessing of technology,
at the
to assist elders in living independent lives as long as possible. The
Currently, the turbine reduces campus and
Barrack Street pilot housing project will include 16 units of 2 bedroom
the annual electricity bill of the long term
apartments includes one step-down transition unit. The site is only 1
DkIT by approximately 50%. research and
km from the town centre and has a full range of community facilities
development of the
within 150m of the accommodation.
Centre Director Larry Staudt new technology will
said, “With the development set new standards
The cutting edge technology that will be available to residents will
of a set of back-up battery for energy storage
include sensors to allow early detection of problems and contact
storage onsite, it is hoped, with wind turbines in
systems that will assist social inclusion and reduce isolation.
for example, to store any other locations.”
surplus energy production
Construction should start this Spring and it is hoped that the first
during windy periods and
tenants will benefit from the project in the middle of 2009.
reuse the stored energy for use
 Bright
Lights Beckon
David Tiernan Manager of the high definition post production facility ‘The Bright Room’ at DkIT, spoke about
project and what this means for the growth of the digital media, television and film industry in the East Borde
“Before the Bright Room was set
up in 2005, research had shown
that although there was great
potential for the television and
film industry in the area, there
was a significant production and
post-production skills shortage.
The local industry was embryonic
and fragmented and skilled
professionals had to leave the
region to work elsewhere,”
explained David.
“The Bright Room facility was
created as a result of the Midas
Initiative, a creative and digital
media cluster programme,
following the recognition of the
cross-border economic potential,
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by the Regional Development
Issue
Centre funded through the EU
Interreg 111A Programme and the
International Fund for Ireland.”
Research had shown that a lack of
LINK
LINK
industry level infrastructure in the
region was hindering the industry’s
development. The Bright Room’s
world class post-production facilities
44
were created to meet this need.
“To further expand and encourage
the development of the growing
creative and digital media industry
in the East Border Region, the New
Media Factory programme was
developed. A three strand approach
is helping in the development and
expansion of the broader creative
and digital media industry, in sectors
such as film making, television and
video production, multi-media,
animation and music technology,”
said David.
“The first strand of the programme
was to create greater interest in
the sector and a series of short
introductory courses in production
and location work, were run in
conjunction with the Louth, Newry
and Mourne Film Commission.”
“There was quite a lot of interest in
the camera, lighting, scriptwriting,
assistant direction, make-up and
production and this has helped local
talent learn new industry level skills
and grow the number of production
crew members available to work in
the region.”
“The second strand focussed on
the development of skills in post-
production areas such as editing,
animation and design. Courses
covered programmes including
Final Cut Pro, Motion, Pro Tools
and 3D Studio Max. Participants
had a chance to work on five real-
life projects for local companies,
producing corporate and marketing
videos with a real budget and
deadline. Each member of the team
took a role in the production team
and the projects were each very
successful.”
“In our third and most recent
strand, the New Media Factory
is trying to encourage the
development of local production
and post-production companies.
To build a sustainable production
and post-production industry
here, we need entrepreneurs and
businesses to increase employment
opportunities and generate growth
in the sector. 12 local digital
media professionals and budding
entrepreneurs are currently taking
part in a 12 week programme of
business training, mentoring and
networking at the Bright Room to
assist them in developing their own
innovative business ideas.”
Mairtin de Barra, Director of the
Louth Newry and Mourne Film
Commission is very encouraged by
the dynamic growth of companies
during the last two years and the
opportunities this will bring for local
economic development.
“The excellent high-tech Bright
Room facilities at DkIT have
been crucial to the possibility of
developing this fast growing sector
in a region outside the existing film
and tv production hubs in Dublin
and Belfast.”

the ‘New Media Factory’
er Region.
“It is a huge bonus to this cross-
border area and has acted as a
catalyst and supportive role in the
growth of the sector. More and
more digital media companies are
being set up here, like Big Mountain
Productions, Meedja and Zodiac,
with people moving back to the
area because they know that they
have all the facilities they need in
Dundalk,” added Mairtin.
“The overall Midas clustering
initiative for companies to pool
resources and share opportunities to
tender for larger projects has been
very successful.”
“Eight of the original cluster
companies have formed a limited
company Midas Multimedia Ltd.
They are now able to use their joint
skills and resources to work on very
large scale projects, which were
previously impossible to access,
bringing revenue and employment
to the area,” he added.
Bright Ideas
David Tiernan
The Bright Room
www.thebrightroom.com
Philip McGovern and Jane Kelly,
Big Mountain Productions
www.bigmountainproductions.com
Peter Mee and Damian Purcell
Midas Multimedia
www.midasinitiative.com
The Bright Room
The Bright Room is Ireland’s
first dry-hire only post-
production facility, located in
the architecturally renowned,
modernist Carroll Building at
Dundalk Institute of Technology.
The Bright Room is equipped
with world class facilities
including High Definition (HD)
Discreet Smoke, HD Final Cut
Pro, HD Green Screen recording,
DVD authoring/printing, 3D
Animation, compositing and
visual effects, HD Pro-tools
Big Mountain Productions
Ex BBC television producer Jane
Kelly, is one of a number of
local entrepreneurs leading the
growing base of digital media
companies who has offices in the
RDC incubation units, Dundalk
and now also in Newry.
Jane’s highly successful film
production business Big
Mountain Productions Ltd,
which she set up in 2005 with
her television producer husband
Philip McGovern, an ex RTE
series producer, is now part of
a cluster of new and growing
digital media companies in the
East Border Region.
Midas Multimedia
Peter Mee and Damian Purcell’s
company Recordit! a high
definition video production
company and Peter Mee of RDC
based digital media company
Meedja, have collaborated
on projects since they met
through the Midas Initiative,
a East Border project to
encourage a cluster of digital
media companies to improve
their business skills and work
together.
Under the Midas Multimedia Ltd
umbrella, they have undertaken
a filming and production
contract for a prestigious road
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LINK
Issue 1
and voice recording booth
and a large Render farm. So
whether it’s a TV documentary,
a High Definition feature film,
corporate, commercial or a HD
to Digi Beta Tape transfer, all the
facilities are available to bring
projects to completion.
The Regional Development
Centre (RDC) incubation
units now house a number of
new dynamic digital media
companies whose successes are
already apparent.
Since receiving a great deal of
support and encouragement
from the Regional Development
Centre at DKIT and having access
to The Bright Room, the new
high definition post production
facility on the campus, Jane
and Philip’s business has grown
very fast. They have recently
won production contracts for
a number of prestigious new
factual and event based television
series with both the BBC and RTE.
They also produce the acclaimed
RTE music series ‘The Jam’. Their
aim is to develop and produce
high quality programming for
Irish and UK broadcasters.
safety DVD for schools for the
Road Safety Authority. The
major project involved filming,
post production, interactive
3D games, dramatisations and
animation. “Working with
the Bright Room facilities and
collaborating together, has
helped us both to tackle bigger
projects than I could not have
undertaken on my own.” said
Peter. “We continue to use the
facilities at The Bright Room
regularly including the green
screen and editing suites and
find this an excellent centre to
bring clients,” added Damian.
 A Standing Novation for Entrepreneurs Space to
At the heart of the Regional Development Programme
are the core principles of Innovation, Technology Transfer
and Enterprise Development. And nowhere is this more
evident than in the Novation programme which helps many
Work
fledgling businesses to grow into successful enterprises. Some RDC entrepreneurs become
tenants in the very modern
The Regional Development Centre, through its Novation incubation business units at the
Programme managed by Sean MacEntee is proactive in nurturing centre, benefiting from access to
new business ideas and start-up businesses. Some of these high tech facilities, networking
businesses come into contact with the Regional Development contacts and access to research
Centre (RDC) when they embark on the twelve month Novation facilities along with the very
Enterprise Platform Programme (NEPP) business mentoring and supportive culture that seems to
development initiative. The programme has helped over 60 start- pervade the centre.
up and newly formed business successes since it was set up over
six years ago, of which over 60% are still in business today, a high
level of achievement. Between them, these businesses employ
over 400 people and have a collective turnover of approximately
€30m per annum.

Garrett Duffy and Séan McEntee
Novation Programme
A measure of success at the RDC can be seen at morning
coffee, when the air in the central atrium buzzes with creativity
and swapped business know-how. The informal conversations
between the entrepreneurial tenants, researchers and business
mentors often lead to innovative ideas which have commercial
potential.
Paul Muldoon, AirEn Services

Paul Muldoon is benefiting from

Entrepreneur Support moving to one of the incubation

units in the centre. Paul developed
his new business AirEn Services,
in wind turbines for domestic and
“Our biggest area of interest is in the incubation centre with the tenant units commercial use. In researching his
and the whole entrepreneurial agenda. If you want clustering of entrepreneurs, innovative ideas, he discovered
you need to be linked with research and academic organisations like Dundalk that the main source of knowledge
Institute of Technology (DkIT), so it makes sense for the successful Regional in renewable energy, the Centre
for Renewable Energy (CREDIT),
Development Centre to be located on the DkIT campus where a culture of
was in fact based at nearby DkIT.
innovation is high.” CREDIT manage the well-known
Rosemary Sexton Enterprise Ireland wind turbine on the campus,
administer and lecture on the
academic courses at the Institute
The NEPP programme is aimed at graduate level participants developing an innovative product or service in and carry out ground-breaking
a knowledge based, IT or high technology sector. Brothers Conor and Fintan McCormack, with mechanical research into a number of
and electrical engineering backgrounds, are developing a new and highly innovative prototype machine, the renewable energy sources.
Mcor Matrix. This builds 3D prototype models using A4 paper as its feedstock, a very economical material to
use, compared to ABS plastic or plaster. The idea was completely new in Ireland and is in strong demand by “The director of CREDIT, Larry
design engineers. The new company MCOR technologies, now has an extensive potential global market in the Staudt, has been a tremendous
rapidly expanding 3D printer market and has just won best Innovator Company from Louth County Enterprise mentor in the development of
Board Awards. my new business, in this newly
“We set up the fledgling developing market for wind
company in June 2005 and at turbines.”
that stage we hadn’t heard
about the RDC,” said Conor.” Paul eventually began to struggle to
We have benefited from run his growing business from home
the really extensive business and was offered an incubation unit
support, mentoring, business at the RDC next door to CREDIT. The
planning and the great two neighbour organisations now
Issue 1

networking and contacts we collaborate on a number of projects,

have gained over the last year.
We are now at a very crucial
stage in our development
moving from the research
LINK
running a test site for domestic scale
wind turbines on the campus and
carrying out joint research into wind
analysis and feasibility studies for

and development to the wind turbine locations with some

full commercialisation and of the DkIT Masters students in
Conor and Fintan McCormack, MCOR Technologies production stage,” added Renewable Energy.
Conor.

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 7
Digitally Diverse

LINK
Taking part in the iMedia Digital Diversity’s new media programme,

Issue 1
organised by the Regional Development Centre has allowed a career
change for two talented participants.

Keith Bailey and Kornelia Rybacka
both achieved exceptional success,
as qualified industry professionals for
Apple’s Final Cut Pro, after starting
out with no previous experience of
this film editing software.
Both iMedia students took the
modular Digital Diversity course, an
introduction to digital media and
learnt about Adobe Photoshop for
digital imaging, Dreamweaver for
web authoring, Flash Animation and
Final Cut Pro for film editing.
They both scored such high marks
in their Final Cut Pro module, that
the Digital Diversity programme
manager, Eamonn Quinn persuaded
Apple to let them sit their Train the
Trainer courses, which will now allow
them both to train others.
“Keith and Kornelia have been
exceptional students and had a real
flair for the Final Cut Pro software
programme, even though they were
new to this software and the courses
were quite a challenge,” he said.
“We have run three iMedia
programmes with cross border
digital media courses in Dundalk,
Banbridge and Armagh and each
time, I have been amazed at the
talent, skills and interest of the
participants. Quite a few have gone
on to use their new skills either
in their jobs, or to create a new
business opportunity, or even just
to be able to teach their children
about animation or edit the family
videos.”
Keith Bailey, a professional engineer
with a PhD in aerodynamics is
setting up his own business Engility,
using his new software training
skills.
“Although I had used Photoshop
and Dreamweaver before, I had no
experience of Final Cut Pro, said
Keith. “I really liked the package
and was lucky enough to score
really highly in the FCP5 user
exam.”
“It made sense for me to become
a trainer and it works in well with
Keith Bailey, iMedia, Digital Diversity Student
my new business. I am really glad to
have had the opportunity to achieve
this level thanks to the iMedia
course.”
“Our aim has been to
increase awareness of
opportunities within
digital media and try
to increase skills base
in the Northern Ireland
and the southern border
counties.”
Eamonn Quinn,
Digital Diversity
Programme Manager.
Eamonn also explained, “The
courses also had a cross community
content in peace and reconciliation,
which was run by an experienced
conflict resolution facilitator and
leading expert from South Africa, Dr
Brandon Hamber.”
“The Programme has been so
successful in fact that the project
has been nominated by the Special
European Peace Building Fund
as having made an outstanding
contribution to peace building and
community.”
The programme has been funded
by the EU’s Programme for Peace
and Reconciliation, managed by the
Special EU Programmes Body by the
Cross Border Consortium.

help older people. “Ageing in place in one’s own home is seen as the
most desirable approach to care for the elderly. Unfortunately, houses
are often not suitable, home help and support services are sometimes
inadequate and transport and accessibility issues mean that social
inclusion can be difficult to maintain for the older generation as they
become more frail,” he explained.

“Research is beginning to show that with new models of care,

building design and technology, we can significantly improve the
quality of life for us all, as we become older. We have been looking
at how other communities elsewhere have developed better ways of
keeping independence in the older population, including Holland and
in the United States.”

Rodd Bond (back row, 2nd from left) and Team, Netwell Centre Rodd is such an advocate for the new project that he has had a very
busy twelve months speaking at a number of conferences, including

Ageing Gracefully
The research based Nestling Project in Dundalk is showing how we
need to think ‘out of the box’ about providing improved care and
services for our increasingly elderly population.
the Netwell Centre’s first conference into collaborative working. He
also presented a paper at the Global Futures Project Conference in
Seoul, Korea last October. With Rodd’s architectural background,
he has been particularly aware of the need to change the built
environment in both housing and urban infrastructure, to make both
more age-friendly.

A major new collaborative initiative for the North East of Ireland
which aims to extend independent living and quality of life for older
people, with its new centre in the Regional Development Centre,
Dundalk. The Nestling Project run by the Netwell Centre has a number
of partners including the Health Services Executive (HSE), Dundalk
Institute of Technology (DkIT) and Dundalk Town Council and is
additionally supported by the Universities of Ulster and Dublin City.
“Taking part in the World Health Organisation ‘Friendly Cities Project’,
has given us a greater understanding of the everyday problems faced
by our senior population, in everyday living and getting about in an
urban environment,” said Rodd. “Dundalk is one of 33 cities in 22
countries worldwide, who have participated in this unique WHO study
and the only Irish city to take part in this research into what makes an
age-friendly city,” he added.

Funding has come from part grants by Atlantic Philanthropies and “This global research will be very valuable in helping us to shape the
Interreg 111A funding. Director Rodd Bond, is a strong advocate for future of Dundalk and to help other cities in Ireland to adopt the
the role of research and innovative thinking, to improve the way we same principles.”
 The Winds of Change
With climate change high on the world’s agenda and
the recent high prices for oil and petrol products, the
applied research being carried out by the Centre for
Renewable Energy at Dundalk Institute of Technology
(CREDIT), could not be more topical.

CREDIT is a research centre which was set up in 2002 with the overall
aim of assisting Ireland’s transition to a renewable energy-based
economy. Based in the Regional Development Centre on the DkIT
campus, CREDIT is now recognised as an Irish Centre of Excellence
in renewable energy and one of a small number of such facilities
worldwide.

Work at the centre is focused on applied research into renewable

energy options, towards the development of new energy systems that
reduce our dependency on fossil fuels.

Raymond Byrne, researcher with CREDIT explained, “We are currently

developing a new emissions tool which measures greenhouse gas
emissions within an urban area. This new tool creates an emissions
profile of an area and allows various options for using renewable
energy sources and the addition of more green spaces to be
evaluated, in terms of offsetting emissions.”

“We are developing this tool as part of the Dundalk 2020 initiative,
a sustainable energy community programme which aims to change
patterns of energy use to a more sustainable level. We then hope to
test this emissions tool in other European cities, in collaboration with
Sustainable Energy Ireland.”

“This research could provide a very important

tool for architects and urban planners in reducing
emissions in urban areas and make a positive
contribution to our environments,” he added.

“In 2006, the Centre co-developed a pilot model of the Irish economy,
simulating its transition towards renewable energy and showing the
country’s economy in terms of energy flows in and out. The ECCO
model was developed with the Environment Protection Agency and
The Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability (FEASTA) and
simulates a preliminary model of the Irish economy, currently 90%
dependant on fossil fuels.”

“We are now seeking new funding to allow us to continue in this

valuable research.”

Parallel to the research programmes, are the renewable energy

education programmes at DkIT. The School of Engineering
now runs an MSc in Renewable Energy Systems that
commenced in 2006. The Renewable Energy Installer
[e] info@elementdesign.ie

Academy was an Interreg IIIA funded project and is now

run by the plumbing department. CREDIT’s own renewable
energy technology programmes for the general public focus
on domestic technologies are ongoing and information on
the courses can be found at www.credit.ie
Issue 1

Larry Staudt, Director of CREDIT said, “The MSc course is

[t] 042 9327943

one of only a few available in the world, putting DkIT at the

forefront of the drive for an increase in renewable energy,
a reduction of harmful emissions and hopefully a halt to
LINK

climate change.”
Larry Staudt, Director of CREDIT
element design