DCU Mallin-Invent €60,000 award goes to scientific company - Gas Sensor Solutions
21 January 2005

President Mary McAleese today launched a new North-South Access initiative at Dublin City University as part of the 15th anniversary celebrations of DCU Access programmes. The event took place in the Helix arts centre at DCU and was attended by DCU students and staff, as well as representatives of second-level schools from both sides of the border. The Chancellor,Justice Mella Carroll, also attended.

This year's DCU Mallin-invent business start-up award (worth €60,000) has been won by Gas Sensor Solutions (GSS) a spin-out company from the National Centre for Sensor Research at Dublin City University. The Award was presented by the Chairman of Forfas, Mr Eoin O Driscoll to the GSS Chief Executive Dr. Tony Shields.

Now in its third year, the award scheme attracted 50 entries. The purpose of the scheme is to encourage DCU graduates undergraduates, researchers and staff to set up a company and to provide them with the support necessary to translate their idea into a viable business. Three companies were shortlisted for this year's award. According to the judges, chaired by Liavan Mallin, this year's short-listed companies were chosen because they displayed superiority in terms of their product or service, their market opportunity, their competitive advantage, their marketing strategy and the strength of their team.

Gas Sensor Solutions (GSS) (www.sensorsols.com) has pioneered technology that makes packaged food safer to consume and can be applied to provide non invasive testing for pharmaceutical packaging, media, medical monitoring, art conservation, insulated glass and other items that are packaged in a modified atmosphere. The technology can also be used for the testing of water quality.

Using Gas Sensor Solutions Technology in Modified Atmosphere Packaged Food, Gas Sensor Solutions' technology makes packaged food safer to consume. The use of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) to increase shelf-life and improved visual characteristics of food has become widespread in many food categories (e.g, cooked and raw meats, dairy products, fresh produce). Almost every item of packed food on a supermarket shelf these days includes the words "packed in a modified atmosphere for your protection".

GSS offers the potential to test the oxygen concentration of MAP packages without the need for destructive testing. The sensor film can be printed onto the inner surface of a package before it is sealed, and interrogated using a low cost non-destructive scanner at multiple stages along the supply chain to provide critical product quality information.

Oxygen is the prime reason that causes food to spoil, and most MAP packaging is aimed at excluding or minimising its presence inside food packs. No packaging/sealing system is perfect, however, and leaks in the packaging and sub-standard oxygen scavenger (a substance that removes oxygen from the atmosphere) will mean that the food will decay in advance of the `Best Before' date on the label.

The initial technology underlying GSS's technology was carried out in the National Centre for Sensor Research (NCSR) in DCU over a number of years, headed by Prof. Brian McCraith, a world leader in sensor technology, with support from Enterprise Ireland.

There are a number of other industries besides Food Packaging using MAP and for whom the prospect of non-invasive oxygen measurement is very exciting including pharmaceutical packaging and medical monitoring.

GSS has a range of pipeline products which will complement the oxygen measurement. These include the non-invasive measurement of other gases including CO2, which is widely used in MAP.

GSS are at an advanced stage of commercial discussions with a number of international companies. Favourable technical evaluations have taken at Teagasc for MAP-packed food and at VTT in Finland for migration testing.

Two other companies were shortlisted for the award:

Cluesivity
Cluesivity Systems is a technology company developing Digital Rights Management Solutions for the Enterprise.
Qualflow
Qualflow Systems was established to provide remote clean-in-place and sensor systems for the food and beverage industries.