Wavebob Ltd and Intel came out on top of the innovation stakes at an awards ceremony in Dublin in December. The awards were presented at the Art of Innovation, an Engineers Ireland seminar, and were attended by business leaders in the high-tech and engineering industries. Wavebob Ltd, an Irish green energy company, has spent the past seven years developing a highly innovative technology for the conversion of ocean wave energy to useful power.  With an investment of €2.5 million Wavebob have patented an ocean wave power device which is planned to be used in all the coastal European states, Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada, Chile, Argentina, Peru and Mauritius where there are significant wave energy resources and reasonable expectations of the resource being exploited. According to projections published by the Department of Communications, Marine Natural Resources, the Irish domestic market is worth €49 million by 2020 for a successful wave power device, and the export market worth potential €95 million.

Martin Curley, a senior principal engineer with Intel Leixlip, was named Engineers Ireland Innovation Engineer of the Year. Curley, who flew in from Brazil to collect his award has developed a ‘capability maturity framework’ that can be implemented by companies to achieve more predictable business value from IT based innovations.

Speaking at the awards presentation, Úna Parsons, Industry Director with Engineers Ireland, said, “The significance of innovation for Irish business today cannot be overemphasised. As we move toward becoming a knowledge economy we need to focus more on linking innovation with government policy and our continued economic success will depend on that. I think the winners’ projects here today are a wonderful example of where Ireland is at the forefront of global innovation.”