RCSI is a partner on two projects to develop innovative technologies for heart failure and high risk patient monitoring that have been awarded funding totaling €6.4 million under the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF).

The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar TD, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD and the Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, Dara Calleary TD, announced 11 successful projects as part of the latest tranche of awards made under the fund.

The DTIF is a €500m fund which aims to drive collaboration between Ireland’s world-class research base and industry, as well as facilitating enterprises to compete directly for funding in support of the development and adoption of these technologies.

RCSI spin-out company Pumpinheart, along with its co-founder Dr Aamir Hameed, RCSI Department of Anatomy and Regenerative Medicine, leads a consortium that has received €3.1m in funding for a groundbreaking project in heart failure research (HFpEFmini-pump). With partners Gentian Consultancy Services and Boston Scientific, they will work to develop a miniature, implantable smart pump device for the treatment of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), limiting the need for open-heart surgery. The Pumpinheart technology has been funded to date under an Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Fund award at RCSI.

Professor Gerard Curley, Professor of Anaesthesia and Critical Care at RCSI, is a successful co-applicant on a project led by Novus Diagnostics to develop ‘Thorax’, an artificial intelligence-driven patient monitoring platform, combined with a diagnostic test capable of identifying patients at high risk of progression of acute diseases such as sepsis and pneumonia. The consortium was awarded €3.3m with partners including Dolmen Design and Innovation and University College Dublin.

Professor Fergal O’Brien, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at RCSI, said: “I congratulate the RCSI recipients awarded funding in the latest call of the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund. The successful applications exemplify the innovation that we aim to foster at the university through the formation of spin-out companies and industry engagement, both of which translate to real patient benefit in Ireland and around the world.”

Announcing the successful projects, the Tánaiste said: “Today I have approved funding under the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF) for another 11 ground-breaking projects that embody innovation and technological change. Now more than ever we should look to the future and embrace innovation as a means of building our capacity to conquer the challenges we face.

“Throughout the pandemic, the research community showed a commendable ability to adapt and rise to previously unthinkable challenges. We want to encourage and support that ingenuity and inventiveness through this fund, helping to deal with the adverse effects of COVID-19, Brexit, the war in Ukraine, and rising inflation.”

The 11 successful projects funded in this round were assessed by panels of international experts against four criteria – quality of the disruptive technology, excellence of overall approach, economic impact and sustainability, and strength of the collaboration.

Further information about the funding announcement can be found here.