Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Impacts
Since 2020..... 24 new spin-outs || 242 inventions || 83 licensed technologies || 300 projects with industry.
We have now supported.... >100 start-ups || €796m in grants and investments || 3,365 jobs.
It's all about impact. The Innovation Office team - using their knowledge transfer expertise - works with the research community to support the technology licensing and partnership with industry and other stakeholders. The creation of spin-out companies to turn research into societal impact is one of the core activities of our university.
Luminate Medical – Innovative Solutions to Prevent and Manage Side Effects in Cancer Treatment
Luminate Medical, a University of Galway spin-out, is developing pioneering technologies that help prevent the side effects of cancer treatment, empowering patients while reducing the need for in-clinic monitoring. The company’s innovations are patient-focused, supporting safer, more accessible care.
Innovative Products
From University Spin-Out to Global Team
Founded in 2018 by Aaron Hannon, Dr. Barbara Oliveira, and Professor Martin O’Halloran while working as medical device researchers at the University of Galway, Luminate Medical has grown to a team of over 50 staff based across the U.S., Ireland, and Georgia.
With successful first-in-patient clinical trial results and a Series A funding round in September 2024, Luminate has launched U.S.-based clinical trials for Lilac. In 2025, the company received its third Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund grant of €6.5 million, bringing total funding to around $30.6 million, supported by Europe’s EIC Accelerator, Enterprise Ireland, and private investors.
University of Galway Innovation Office Client Story
As a proud client of the University of Galway Innovation Office, Luminate Medical exemplifies how university research, staff expertise, and innovation support can transform pioneering ideas into globally impactful healthcare solutions.
More info Luminate
Loci Orthopaedics – Revolutionising Treatment for Thumb Base Joint Arthritis
Loci Orthopaedics is a clinical‑stage orthopaedic medical device company focused on transforming how thumb base joint arthritis is treated with its InDx Implant System — an evidence‑based implant designed to restore natural thumb motion and overcome key limitations of current surgical implants.
Thumb base joint arthritis is highly prevalent, affecting an estimated up to 5% of the U.S. and EU population (approximately 100 million people worldwide), significantly impacting daily function and quality of life.
Key Highlights & Recent Progress
Founders & Origins
oci Orthopaedics was co-founded by Gerry Clarke and Dr Brendan Boland, both BioInnovate alumni, as a concurrent spin-out from the University of Galway (Ireland), University College Cork (Ireland), and KU Leuven (Belgium). The company has also been a valued client of the University of Galway Innovation Office, benefiting from support to grow, scale, and bring their innovation to market.
Looking Ahead
With robust clinical data development underway and regulatory pathways progressing, Loci Orthopaedics is advancing toward broader clinical validation and eventual commercialisation of the InDx Implant System, offering surgeons and patients a transformational option for thumb base arthritis worldwide.
More info: Loci Orthopaedics
Neurent Medical – Treating Patients with Rhinitis
Neurent Medical is developing a new-to-world, medical device-led procedure to treat patients with rhinitis, the fifth most common chronic disease in the U.S. and the most common chronic disease in children. Rhinitis is an inflammatory condition of the nose causing congestion and severe runny nose, affecting up to 40% of the population. Until now, treatment options have included long-term medication or surgery.
Founded by CEO Brian Shields and CTO David Townley through their work at the BioInnovate Ireland programme at University of Galway, Neurent identified an unmet clinical need and developed a single-use device that delivers targeted energy to interrupt the inflammatory cascade, aiming to provide long-term symptom relief. The procedure is performed under local anaesthetic, reducing unnecessary healthcare costs and hospital visits.
The University of Galway Innovation Office has supported Neurent Medical at every stage—from idea conception, invention disclosure, and funding applications, to project implementation, IP management, patent protection, company formation, and licensing the technology from the university. Neurent continues to collaborate closely with the university, including funding a research programme with the CÚRAM research centre.
With the opening of a new manufacturing facility in Oranmore, Co. Galway, Neurent is expected to create 125 highly skilled jobs in 2026, spanning engineering, quality, operations, supply chain, and sales. The company is headquartered in Galway with U.S. operations in Braintree, Massachusetts, and is committed to developing patient‑centred, minimally invasive therapies that improve quality of life for people suffering from chronic inflammatory sinonasal diseases.
More info: Neurent Medical
VorTech Water Solutions - Sustainable solutions for water challenges
VorTech Water Solutions address the world’s leading water and wastewater challenges by developing and delivering innovative, cost effective solutions that make a real difference towards improving the sustainability of the industry.
Founded in 2019 VorTech Water Solutions Ltd. is a spin-out from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Our core products which focus on aeration, mixing and hydropower (designed using the principles of fluid dynamics) with focus on sustainability have garnered international interest with a number of municipal, industrial and aquaculture players.
The company has a unique collection of combined deep technology expertise in areas such as vortex fluid dynamics, hydraulics, energy efficiency, wastewater process and control, biochemistry, sustainable product design, commercial scaling and energy finance.
video about vortech
Xtremedy Medical - treating diabetic foot conditions
Galway-based spinout Xtremedy Medical is currently raising seed funding to start clinical trials for its novel medical device that aims to treat diabetic foot infections. Lyn Markey and Camille O’Malley first met at the BioInnovate Ireland fellowship programme in 2018 as part of the orthopaedics team, before going on to found the spinout in 2020. During this time, the duo witnessed traumatic experiences among patients undergoing months of ineffective therapy to control post-surgical infections.
Finishing the programme, Markey and O’Malley funnelled these concerns and learnings into Xtremedy Medical – a MedTech spinout aimed at developing a medical device and platform technology to treat infection wounds using the pulsed field ablation (PFA) method. They key to this technology’s effectiveness is the dual ability to reduce the bacterial burden (stimulating healing) and improve antibiotic uptake. A winner of Enterprise Ireland’s Big Ideas 2021 showcase, Xtremedy now estimates a market opportunity of up to €5bn and regulatory approval by 2028. These successes will contribute to the support of thousands of patients across the US and Europe and the prevention of avoidable post-surgical disabilities.
Orreco – Collaborative Research and Global Impact in Athlete Performance
Orreco partners with coaching, performance, and medical staff to make sense of player and athlete data, turning complex biomarkers and performance metrics into personalised strategies that help athletes stay in peak performance zones, accelerate recovery, and reduce injury risk. The company combines sports science, data science, and machine learning to identify individual physiological thresholds and deliver actionable insights grounded in decades of peer-reviewed research.
Through its University of Galway Insight partnership, Professor John Newell leads Orreco’s Data Science division, developing and applying computationally intensive statistical and machine learning methods to model injury occurrence and identify optimal training loads for athletes. This academic collaboration ensures Orreco’s products and services are underpinned by cutting-edge research and best practice.
Orreco’s work is trusted by elite teams and athletes across global sport, including professional franchises in the NBA, NFL, NHL, EPL, WNBA, and MLS, as well as Olympic athletes and major champions in individual sports. The company’s analytics platforms are used to optimise training, support recovery, and extend playing careers through data-driven decision-making.
Recent Partnerships and Innovation
- Orreco was named Official Bio-Analytics Supplier for INEOS Britannia in the America’s Cup, supporting their performance staff with comprehensive biomarker and recovery monitoring solutions.
- The company announced a strategic partnership with ISOBAR, combining Orreco’s analytics with advanced custom compression technology to enhance athletic recovery and wellbeing at elite levels.
- Orreco integrated real-time NBA tracking data into its AI-powered performance platform, enhancing insights into training loads, player movement patterns, and injury risk modelling.
Growth & Funding Highlights
In late 2025, Orreco raised $4 million in new funding, including support from investor Mark Cuban, Enterprise Ireland, and professional athlete investors. The company also acquired AI computer vision specialist Data Driven Sports Analytics to expand its motion-based injury prediction technology. This investment supports global growth and is expected to create new jobs in Galway and internationally as Orreco expands its research, analytics, and engineering teams.
Academic Foundations & Research Culture
Orreco’s long-standing partnerships, including with the University of Galway Insight Centre, provide a foundation for research excellence. The firm’s data science work draws on sophisticated modelling approaches and contributes to new understanding in athlete health, injury prediction, and workload optimisation.
Mission & Global Impact
Originating from a strong research base, Orreco remains committed to evidence-based, personalised performance science, helping athletes make informed training and recovery decisions. Its combination of biomarker analytics, machine learning, and AI continues to advance performance optimisation and injury prevention in elite sport.
"We have a great research partnership with the Insight Centre for Data Analytics at University of Galway...it is this grounding in research and best practice that drives the development of our elite athlete products and services."
More info: Orreco
Solutions for high-stakes evaluation-based exams.
Qpercom has become a global leader in providing advanced assessment solutions and expertise to institutions worldwide.
Its software solutions are used in high stakes evaluation-based exams, such those of medicine and law, and in other scenarios where assessing a person’s capabilities in a fair and accurate manner is paramount. Qpercom claims 70% reduction in administration time and elimination of human error by taking out the laborious paper trail.
A 2008 spin-out from University of Galway, Qpercom took a licence to copyright-protected material and know-how relating to Management Information Systems (MIS) technology and in 2017 launched a new product to market, Qpercom Entrust, based on this licence. It is an Entrustable Professional Activity (EPA) management software tool across mobile and web-based platform and was created and rolled out in the College of Anaesthetists of Ireland (CAI). An EPA is a key task of a discipline that an individual can be trusted to perform in a given health care context, once sufficient competence has been demonstrated. Until the new software tool was launched, EPAs were paper-based and inaccessible to educationalists, registrars and consultants.
The Innovation Office at University of Galway led the licence negotiation and has been pro-active in supporting from early days of technology development through to housing the company in the university incubator facility.
Treatment for thrombosis patients
Vetex spun out from University of Galway in 2015 to develop technology to address the needs identified in the management of venous clots. In December 2020, Vetex reached a major milestone in gaining FDA regulatory approval for its clot removal product ‘ReVene’. The company was acquired by global company Surmodics Inc in a deal worth almost €40m in 2021 that is set to expand Vetex company operations in the Galway area.
The Innovation Office at University of Galway supported the company from the outset, managing the licensing process that originally spun out the company and supporting Vetex in protecting its intellectual property to help establish a strong patent portfolio. The team also helped the company in applying for funding and investment and has provided practical support in helping to find the appropriate lab and office space at the University of Galway Business Innovation Centre.
FeelTect – Connected‑Health Innovation in Wound Care
FeelTect is a Galway-based medtech spin-out (launched via the University of Galway’s BioInnovate Ireland programme in 2019) on a mission to disrupt wound care with connected-health solutions designed for safety, efficacy, and patient empowerment. The company focuses on improving outcomes for people with chronic wounds, particularly venous leg ulcers, which affect millions of people globally each year.
Tight Alright – First-of-Its-Kind Connected-Health Technology
FeelTect’s flagship product, Tight Alright, is the first connected-health device to measure and remotely monitor sub-bandage pressure during compression therapy, the standard treatment for venous leg ulcers. By providing real-time pressure data via a wearable device linked to a digital platform, Tight Alright helps clinicians and patients optimise compression therapy — improving healing rates, reducing treatment costs, and enhancing quality of life.
Commercial Launch and Clinical Validation
Following rigorous testing and clinical validation, FeelTect has begun the commercial rollout of Tight Alright in hospitals across Europe. Recent clinical results show accelerated healing rates for leg ulcer patients when optimal compression is consistently applied. The device holds CE mark approval in Europe, FDA registration in the U.S., and TGA certification in Australia, supporting global market access.
Funding and Growth
In late 2025, FeelTect secured €1.5 million in investment from strategic partners to support commercial rollout, regulatory expansion, and team growth in Galway. The company plans to expand staff across R&D, clinical, manufacturing, and commercial roles to support this next phase of development.
Vision for Patient-Centred Care
FeelTect is committed to improving wound healing outcomes and reducing the burden on healthcare systems by enabling better remote monitoring, personalised care, and data-driven decision-making. Its connected-health platform empowers both patients and care teams with actionable insights throughout the healing journey.
More here Feeltect
