Ireland Startup Pitch and Networking Event / Embassy of Ireland, Japan / 27th February 2024

1. ジョン・ブレスリン John Breslin
John, 冨田勲さん and Ben in 1999
● よろしくお願いします！
● 色々な役割をしている… 󰞹󰞲🚀󰞴📚
● 教授、工学部、ゴールウェイ大学 Professor, Elec Eng, University of Galway
● 主任研究者 Principal Investigator, Insight Centre for Data Analytics
● Director, TechInnovate/AgInnovate entrepreneurship master’s degrees
● 起業家 Co-Founder, boards.ie, adverts.ie, PorterShed
● Steering Group Member, Scale Ireland
○ Chair of the Third-Level Entrepreneurship Group
● 著者 、古きアイルランドのカラー写真 Co-Author, Old Ireland in Colour
● 冨田勲さんのファンです Made the first Isao Tomita fansite in 1995
● 初めてのアニメはガッチャマンでした Watched Battle of the Planets c. 1980

2. Cork·
·Limerick
·Galway
Belfast·
DUBLIN·

3. ゴールウェイ Galway / Gaillimh
● The Long Walk / Blackrock, Salthill (right)
● The University Quadrangle (below)
○ Modelled on Christ Church, University of Oxford
● Photographs by Prof. Chaosheng Zhang

4. Around Galway in Anime
Inis Mór, Aran Islands Shop Street
River Corrib Cliffs of Moher
フラクタル©フジテレビ

5. Ireland: island of innovation
and entrepreneurship
By the way, I like this definition of innovation by
Edward B Roberts (MIT):
Innovation = Invention × Commercialisation
That is, you can’t have an innovation without both
(1×0=0, 0×1=0, 1×1=1)

6. Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics
● 14 spinout companies, including:
○ Output Sports (performance metrics)
○ Sedicii (identity verification)
○ Athena CX (dynamic research surveys)
○ Xtreme Push (digital engagement)
○ Stimul.Ai (hospital capacity planning)
○ Siren (DERI spinout, crime analytics)
● One of the largest data analytics
research centres in Europe
● 4 hosts institutions, including the
University of Galway
● Building on 20 years of research
● ~3500 publications
● 350+ research awards
● €1.1 billion to the Irish economy

7. ● More than 450 medtech companies are based in Ireland, up from 50 in 1993
(IBEC 2023, IDA 2022)
● 9/10 and 17/20 of world’s top medtech companies are based in Ireland (IBEC 2023)
○ Incidentally, 10/10 top tech companies and 10/10 top biopharma companies are there too
● 48,000 medtech employees in Ireland (IBEC 2023)
Medtech in Ireland
● €13+ billion annual exports, accounting for 8% of
exports from Ireland (IDA 2024)
● Ireland is recognised as a leader in manufacturing
with the greatest number of Shingo Prizes (新郷 重
夫) for operational excellence per capita in the world
● Galway is one of the major European clusters for
medtech companies, and hence you will find
BioInnovate Ireland, CÚRAM, etc. led from there

8. CÚRAM SFI Research Centre for Medical Devices
● 365 directly-employed researchers
● €226 million in total leveraged funding committed to 2026
● 5 spinouts, including:
○ Pharma Latch Medical (drug and vaccine delivery)
○ FeelTect (compression therapy for venous leg ulcers)
● 11 license agreements
● 46 industry partners including Aerogen, Ireland’s largest indigenous medtech
company (their HQ is in Galway)
● Project developed with Takeda during COVID on Hyaluronan Rectal Gel
Enema Device for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Abhay Pandit, Yury Rochev)

9. ● BioInnovate was established in 2011 to train future innovators and embed the
medtech industry in Ireland
● Although led from Galway, it is a national programme
● Only EU affiliate of Stanford Biodesign (see also 日本バイオデザイン学会)
● Key is embedding in a hospital environment to find un(der)-met clinical needs
● Teams have a mix of clinical, technical and commercial, stipend supported
● 33+ BioInnovate startups have raised €270 million (440億円)
● Success stories include:
○ EndoWave (microwave ablation technology)
○ Amara Therapeutics (pelvic/bladder health)
○ Loci Orthopaedics (thumb base arthritis)
BioInnovate Ireland

10. ● The word entrepreneur originally meant someone who is
“active, risky, and even violent” (Thornton 2020)
● It later was used to describe contractors for the government
who worked for known (contracted) prices at uncertain costs
● Kerry-born Richard Cantillon turned this definition around…
● He defined entrepreneur as we now know it in his c. 1730
economics book Essai sur la nature du commerce en général
● He described entrepreneurs as: “non-fixed income earners
who pay known costs of production but earn uncertain
incomes, due to the speculative nature of pandering to an
unknown demand for their product”
○ Free audio book of Essai at https://bit.ly/theaudiobook
An Irishman defines “entrepreneur” in its modern sense
10

11. ● 2,099 startups, 45,652 employees
○ 2,012 companies with less than 100 employees (26,747 people)
○ 87 companies employing 100-500 people (18,905 people)
● 57% of startups are based in Dublin
● 51% of employees are in the rest of Ireland’s startups
● 88% have B2B offerings, and nearly all are export focused
● Major regional clusters include Cork (188), Galway (151) and Limerick (87)
● Enterprise Solutions (513), Health Tech (353), Fintech (192),
Consumer/eCommerce (162), Entertainment/Sport (140), Industrial
Technologies (124), Agri/Food (111), Education (108), Clean Tech (103),
Travel (83), Social Media/Advertising (75), Telecom Tech (74), Security (58)
The national startup picture via TechIreland

12. ● Vision: Make Ireland a leading location for innovation and entrepreneurship
○ Supports on policy and grants, promotes / represents interests, advocates for best conditions
● Regular events with industry figureheads and stakeholders
● Industry research on key issues for members
● Proposals and submissions for the benefit of the sector
● Member of the advisory board of the Europe Startup Nations Alliance (ESNA)
● Supports the EC’s recommendations in the Startup Nations Standard
● John chairs Scale Ireland’s Third-Level Entrepreneurship Group
○ Comprised of leaders and key stakeholders in the sector
○ Foster highest standards and best practice at third level
○ Promote student entrepreneurship, research, innovation
Scale Ireland

13. ● They are coming right up! But also…
● Enterprise Ireland Start-Up Showcase https://bit.ly/ei-start-up-showcase-2023
● Irish Venture Capital Association Venture Pulse https://bit.ly/venture-pulse
● TechIreland https://www.techireland.org/
● Scale Ireland https://www.scaleireland.org/
● Silicon Republic https://www.siliconrepublic.com/
● …and of course the Irish Tech Hub Network
● Thank you! Any questions?
どうもありがとうございます！ ご質問はありますか？
Question: How do I find innovative Irish startups?