From left: Feargal O’Rourke, PwC managing partner; Jonathan Eves, Eco-nomic Innovations; Blake Newman, Cambrist; and Lucinda Kelly, Popertee. Image: Maxwell Photography
Three companies spanning the worlds of fintech, AI and minerals are to vie for a €10,000 cash prize in the PwC Docklands Innovation Enterprise Awards.
Three companies – real-time FX player Cambrist, online marketing AI player Popertee and mineral recovery tech firm Eco-nomic Innovations – are set to compete at the PwC Docklands Innovation Enterprise Awards.
The finalists, all of whom are recent graduates of the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT)/Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) New Frontiers Programme, will pitch their investment proposals and be questioned by an experienced panel of judges on their business plans.
‘With global CEOs recently telling us that technology will completely reshape their industries over the next five years, it is interesting that all of the projects are new technologies in development’
– FEARGAL O’ROURKE
The event will be taking place on 18 March 2017.
The Hothouse effect
The PwC Docklands Innovation Enterprise Awards is now in its 15th year. It is an initiative of Bolton Trust and DIT Hothouse, with the start-ups having access to the newly developed Greenway Hub on the DIT Grangegorman campus.
So far, Hothouse start-ups have generated more than 1,450 jobs and have attracted more than €150m in external investment.
“As a small open economy, it is fantastic to see that all of these projects are export-led by entrepreneurs who are seeking to commercialise their opportunities internationally,” said Feargal O’Rourke, managing partner at PwC Ireland.
“And with global CEOs recently telling us that technology will completely reshape their industries over the next five years, it is interesting that all of the projects are new technologies in development.”
The three start-ups are:
Cambrist
Cambrist facilitates real-time foreign currency processing with industry market leaders. Its multi-currency cloud processing solution enables banks to easily control and optimise their card payment foreign exchange rates. It has multiple retail banks in Ireland, the UK and central Europe in late-stage pilot evaluations.
Eco-nomic Innovations
SpecSep technology, for which Eco-nomic Innovations holds the patent, improves valuable mineral recovery during the separation process, while reducing reagent consumption by about 60pc.
A large multinational mining equipment supplier in South Africa is currently putting plans in place to test the technology on a commercial basis.
Popertee
Popertree is an online platform that connects marketing agencies and brands with vacant spaces, enabling them to gain access to unique and high footfall spaces quickly and cheaply. Based in the Digital Hub, it is now building what it claims is the world’s first artificial intelligence platform, connecting the perfect audience with the perfect location.
