Pictured: Myriam Cronin, manager Gateway UCC, Ruth Patel, Respiro Research and Development, Marcus Claesson, Microbio Solutions, Audrey Michael, Agatha Services and Julie Sinnamon, CEO Enterprise Ireland pictured at the launch of the new Gateway UCC accelerator programme A new accelerator programme, called SPRINT, was launched at Gateway UCC by Julie Sinnamon, CEO Enterprise Ireland, and Anita Maguire, UCC vice-president for research and innovation. Designed to support early stage start-ups, entrepreneurs and UCC-based researchers, the SPRINT accelerator will focus on commercialisation strategies and routes to market. “Using our extensive experience in the area of commercialising research, early stage companies and spin-outs, SPRINT has been developed to increase the number and the success rate of knowledge based start-up companies, utilising intellectual property from UCC,” said Maguire. The first 10 participants in the SPRINT accelerator are already signed up from diverse areas such as bioinformatics, digital mobile, medtech, eHealth, nutrition and food health as well as ICT. These pre- and early stage start-ups will be working with seasoned and successful business mentors, as well as being coached in business development, scaling and growth internationally. “The pre and early stage start-ups, joining SPRINT, are all in the HPSU (High Potential Start Up) space, are IP based and have the potential to create up to 100 new innovation based jobs in the next three years,” said Myriam Cronin, manager of Gateway UCC. Gateway UCC works with clients from their idea stage of development right through to the eventual commercialisation of the product or service. From having a viable commercial opportunity to getting that product or solution into the global marketplace, Gateway UCC activity supports start-ups and entrepreneurs at every step along the journey.   The state-of-the-art facility and infrastructure provides a uniquely supportive ecosystem for start-ups through its programme of business supports. Such supports include mentoring and business coaching, access to financial advice and start-up funding, specialist seminars, workshops, introduction to venture-capital opportunities, business angel networks and access to UCC’s network of researchers together with excellent support through linkages into academic departments. Since opening in 2011, Gateway UCC Business Incubation and Innovation Centre has supported more than 30 start-ups, which between them now employ 180 people and contribute an estimated €13 million in wages and €4 million in tax annually to the local economy.