CONNECT spin-out company, Danalto, and Pilot Photonics, a start-up which emerged from research at CONNECT’s predecessor, CTVR, have been awarded funding in the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation’s Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF).
The €500 million fund, established under Project Ireland 2040, will provide €4.6m funding to Danalto and Pilot Photonics, and their research partners, for the three years to 2021. They are among 27 projects awarded €70 million in the first round of the call.
Welcoming the announcement, Prof. Luiz DaSilva, CONNECT Director, said: “These awards demonstrate that CONNECT research achieves high societal and economic impact, with strong commercialisation potential. We are very happy for Danalto and Pilot Photonics, and proud of the role CONNECT researchers continue to have in their success.”
Pilot Photonics
Award: €1.6m
Project: Irish Lasers for the Internet of the Future (iLife)
Consortium members: Pilot Photonics, DCU and Trinity College Dublin
Research priority areas: ICT – Future Networks, IoT
The project proposes a solution to the impending “capacity crunch” problem for optical telecommunication and datacentre networks using optical frequency comb sources, a new type of laser which can replace the single mode lasers that have been used in long haul optical transport equipment for two decades. Frank Smyth, former CONNECT Executive Director, is the lead Principal Investigator (PI), Aleksandra Kaszubowska-Anandarajah is the PI at Trinity, Prince Anandarajah is the PI for the DCU team. Other researchers include Marco Ruffini (TCD) and Pascal Landais (DCU).
Danalto
Award: €3m
Project: Nex
Consortium members: Davra Networks, DANALTO, INTEL, DCU
Research priority areas: Health and Wellbeing; ICT – Internet of Things
The goal of this project is to provide a reliable, verifiable and secure end-to-end, remote patient monitoring system which has rich data, affordable and reliable network connectivity, machine learning and data integrity at its core.
CONNECT is the world leading Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Future Networks and Communications. CONNECT is funded under the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centres Programme and is co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund. We engage with over 35 companies including large multinationals, SMEs and start-ups. CONNECT brings together world-class expertise from ten Irish academic institutes to create a one-stop-shop for telecommunications research, development and innovation.
