Six-month programme to support entrepreneurs developing solutions for a global market
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Pictured: Liana-Anca Tomescu, SonnyLabs.ai; Dara Calleary, Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation; Doyin Bademosi, Durotimi AI; and Joe Fernandez, Alpaca
Eleven start-ups hae been selected to participate in University College Dublin’s (UCD) inaugural AI Ecosystem Accelerator. The focus of the programme is to support entrepreneurs who are developing disruptive AI solutions for a global market.
The six-month accelerator programme will be delivered by NovaUCD in partnership with CeADAR, Ireland’s National Centre for Applied AI.
The programme is funded through the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) framework, a Europe-wide initiative with funding of €700 million from both the European Commission and the Governments of member states. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, through Enterprise Ireland, is leading on the EDIH programme for Ireland and CeADAR has been designated as the European Digital Innovation Hub for AI in Ireland.
Targeted supports for participants include a dedicated commercial mentor and workshops on value proposition, route to market, sales strategies, and securing investment. Participants will have access to co-working space at NovaUCD and access to the NovaUCD community of founders, investors, business partners and student interns. They will also have access to CeADAR’s EDIH for AI services which include AI technologies, and research expertise with technical mentorship.
Prof Kate Robson Brown, UCD vice-president for research, innovation & impact, said: “The Government’s ambition is that Ireland becomes a leading country in using AI for the benefit of people. Through this new AI Ecosystem Accelerator programme starting today UCD is supporting a dynamic cohort of Irish start-ups and entrepreneurs who are focused on using AI technologies to deliver a range of disruptive products and services, for the benefit of society, not only here in Ireland, but on a global stage.”
Since opening in 2003 NovaUCD has developed a strong track record and has supported 550+ start-ups and early-stage ventures through the services it provides, and through business support programmes run and managed by NovaUCD. In addition, the NovaUCD entrepreneurial community has now raised €1.3+ billion in equity funding.
CeADAR has been awarded a multi-million-euro project as part of the EDIH programme to support start-ups, enterprises (with under 3,000 employees) and public sector organisation from all over Ireland who are at the early stage of their AI journey or just curious to find out how using data can benefit their business.
Among the mentors who will be working with participants during the programme are entrepreneur Niamh Sterling; Aidan Finn, Binarii Labs; Mitchell O’Gorman, xWave Technologies; start-up advisors Lucinda Kelly and Tara Looney; and Ronan Murphy of Smarttech247 and GetVisibility.
The participating start-ups are Alpaca, Customs Window, Durotimi AI, Frontier AI, GoMappED, KnowCarbon, La Casa Care, SonnyLabs.ai, Tashka Technology Solutions, VoxMed.AI, and wrksense.
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