Dr Jimmy Devins T.D., Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, yesterday presented Enterprise Ireland's Industrial Technologies Commercialisation Awards. Two out of ten awards went to NUI Galway for its work in developing technologies in the fields of renewable energy and waste management. Since 2005, the Industrial Technologies Commercialisation Awards have recognised those researchers who successfully commercialised their research via a licence deal with an industrial partner or through the realisation of a successful spin-off. The award winners from NUI Galway were:

• Professor Gerard Hurley of the Electronic Engineering Department and Director of the Power Electronics Research Centre on campus. His project, in partnership with Convertec, is called 'Battery Condition Monitoring and Control'.
• Dr Michael Rodgers, a senior lecturer with the Department of Engineering, and researchers Edmond O'Reilly and Eoghan Clifford. The team licensed a technology to Bord na Móna called 'Horizontal-flow biofilm systems for small scale wastewater treatment'.

NUI Galway has a strong reputation in technology transfer activities, as measured by license agreements, spin-out companies, new invention disclosures, patent applications, collaborative projects with industry and support to campus company formation. -ends-