Brainwave: UCC project to monitor the brain activity of newborns wins Entrepreneurship Award

Neurobell is developing the wireless and battery-powered device that can be connected to the patient with minimal delay and complexity.

Neurobell’s solution makes electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring available to a much wider demographic of medical staff, in any setting. Brain injury in newborns occurs in up to 2% of all births, resulting in the death or disability of over one million infants globally each year, making it the fifth leading cause of death in children under five.

Early identification of brain injury in newborns is vital as the therapeutic window, in which treatment is most effective, is less than six hours after the injury.

Mark O’Sullivan who is pursuing a PhD in Engineering on the Neurobell project in the Infant Research Centre was announced that the winner of the 2020 UCC Entrepreneurship Awards which took place at the UCC Boole Library.

The promoters of 12 projects were shortlisted to present their business ideas to an evaluation panel made up of Paul McGuirk of Local Enterprise Office Cork City; Alan Carroll, UCC Branch Manager, Bank of Ireland; Gary Wade, Cork School of Economics; and Pat Lynch, CEO, EviView.

The Awards are co-ordinated by UCC’s Entrepreneurship Implementation Group. There were 52 applications submitted this year by 27 undergraduates, 22 postgraduates and three researchers.

They coincided with Local Enterprise Week, where hundreds of events are taking place across LEOs in every local authority area.

The events are designed to help individuals and teams to plan, start or grow their own business in 2020.