Tyndall Explorer, National Deep Tech Pre-Accelerator Announces 2023 Winners

Dr Gerard Ekembe presenting on his project - Reslink

The Tyndall Explorer 2023 programme brought together eight competing teams from university and industry sectors across Ireland for this national deep technology pre-accelerator. The programme was led by David McGovern and Patrick Morrissey of the SFI Research Centre, Irish Photonic Integration Centre (IPIC), based at Tyndall National Institute and Helen Fullen of Alinea who directed the programme. Explorer was first launched in 2021 as a collaboration between IPIC and Tyndall National Institute, international high-tech photonics Osram Opto Semiconductors, Confirm Centre, CONNECT Centre and with support from Atlantic Bridge, Intel, IPCEI, Midas, Nova UCD and Science Foundation Ireland.

In the final pre-commercialisation showcase, eight competing finalists presented their applications, which spanned various innovative technology areas.

EvalAI - Dr Qurrat Ul Ain

Fastnet Photonics - Dr Xing Dai, Dr Shengtai Shi

NB-LEDs - Dr Ning Liu, Dr Yongliang Zhang

PIC-SAT - Dr Amol Delmade, Dr Lakshmi Narayanan Venkatasubramani

ResLink - Dr Gerard Ekembe Ngondi, Dr Issam Alnader, Dr Hashem Ghazzawi

SM-EXO - Dr Rupal Srivastava

μFLOWSYN - Dr Pranay Shah

(l-r) Mehrnaz Heidari, Han Shao, Tarun Narayan and David McGovern.

Congratulations team NELSON, explorer 2023 winner!

NELSON, led by Dr Han Shao, Mr Tarun Narayan and Dr Alan O'Riordan is a user-friendly, on-chip multi-sensor system that monitors soil nutrients in the field in real-time. This simple, accurate, and efficient sensor system provides informed decision-making capacity to farmers at all stages of production to optimize fertilizer application and identify soil degradation at an early stage.

Demonstration of the winning NELSON project

This team along with 7 other competing teams have each been committed participants of the explorer programme 2023 in working with their projects towards realizable commercialization.

Congratulations to all participants!

Explorer will be accepting applications for its next programme in September 2023 for a January 2024 start. Teams and individuals will be able to apply at www.tyndall.ie/explorer. If you have queries regarding Explorer, please contact a member of the team by emailing explorer@tyndall.ie.