RCSI and SurgaColl Technologies have won the 2018 Spinout Company Impact Award at the annual Knowledge Transfer Ireland Impact Awards.

The award was presented by Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation and Research and Development, John Halligan TD, and celebrates the company’s significant successes in 2018 and its heritage as a spin-out company from RCSI.

SurgaColl Technologies is an innovative medical device company supplying novel tissue regeneration products for the surgical treatment of disease of the bone, cartilage and other human tissue, based on technologies developed by the Tissue Engineering Research Group (TERG) at RCSI, headed by Professor Fergal O’Brien, Professor of Bioengineering and Regenerative Medicine. SurgaColl™ Technologies’ products support the body’s own natural healing processes, using highly biocompatible, bioactive, and naturally-derived materials to promote faster tissue regeneration without sacrificing quality of healed tissue.

The KTI Impact Awards recognise and showcase the success in knowledge transfer carried out in Irish Higher Education Institutions and publicly funded research organisations for the wider benefit of the economy and society at large.

The award also recognises the instrumental role RCSI’s Office Of Research and Innovation, particularly Head of Innovation, Dr Aoife Gallagher, has played in supporting the establishment and expansion of the company by assisting with commercialisation funding applications and IP portfolio development, protection, prosecution and licensing.

Professor Janusz Jankowski, Deputy Vice Chancellor, RCSI, welcomed the award saying: “This award, recognising the impact of an RCSI spin-out company, is testament to the culture of knowledge transfer at RCSI that brings technologies out of the lab to clinical application for the direct benefit of patients and society; it is an example of bench to bedside research at the top level. I am delighted that the expertise of RCSI’s Tissue Engineering Research Group led by Professor Fergal O’Brien and the Innovation team led by Dr Aoife Gallagher has been recognised at a national level by Knowledge Transfer Ireland. SurgaColl’s products, based on technologies developed by the Tissue Engineering Research Group at RCSI, have the potential to transform the lives of patients around the world.”

RCSI’s Strategic Industry Partnership Seed Fund was also shortlisted in the Knowledge Transfer Initiative of the Year Impact Award category.

About SurgaColl

SurgaColl Technologies Ltd is a pioneer in the field of regenerative medicine. A spin out from RCSI, the company is developing highly innovative tissue repair implants designed to enable cartilage and bone regeneration improving outcomes and standard of care for patients worldwide. SurgaColl has two products - HydroxyColl is a ‘next generation’ bone graft substitute and ChondroColl is a bio-mimetic three layer Cartilage repair implant.

About RCSI

RCSI is ranked among the top 250 (top 2%) of universities worldwide in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (2018) and its research is ranked first in Ireland for citations. It is an international not-for-profit health sciences institution, with its headquarters in Dublin, focused on education and research to drive improvements in human health worldwide. RCSI is a signatory of the Athena SWAN Charter and, in 2018 the College achieved the Investors in Diversity Award.