DCU Invent company Iconic Translation Machines acquired by RWS Holdings
Iconic Translation Machines today announced that it has been acquired by RWS Holdings, a world-leading provider of translation and localisation, intellectual property support solutions and life sciences language services.
Iconic Translation Machines is a DCU spin-out company founded in 2013 as a result of research conducted within the SFI-funded Centre for Next Generation Localisation in the School of Computing, now the SFI ADAPT Research Centre.
Iconic is a software provider specialising in the development of best-in-class neural machine translation (NMT) solutions adapted for specific industries and blue-chip clients. Recently Iconic has been working closely with the RWS Life Sciences division, delivering NMT solutions to RWS’s pharmaceutical clients.
Iconic will form a new vertical language technology business within RWS and will be led by its co-founders Dr John Tinsley and Dr Páraic Sheridan.
Dr. John Tinsley said
“We are very excited about the opportunities this acquisition will give us to serve our clients with an enhanced service delivery model as we expand our capabilities and leverage RWS’s scale, global footprint and comprehensive suite of services and platforms.”
“We’ve been engaging with RWS for a number of years now, and have always admired their business. We are very complementary in terms of the clients and sectors we provide solutions to, and, given RWS’ stellar reputation for quality and our reputation for technology innovation, it is a natural fit.”
Dr. Páraic Sheridan said
“As co-founders of Iconic, we have worked extremely hard to make our company and team what it is today. We have been really impressed with the high calibre of people at RWS to date, and believe this is the perfect place to continue the development of our vision.”
Richard Stokes, Director of Commercialisation at DCU, said
"Iconic is a great success story. The team took academic research and early stage intellectual property into the market with professionalism and perseverance. The Iconic story confirms that DCU graduates have a can-do outlook and that innovation is thriving in DCU with the support of DCU Invent.”
Prof. Andy Way, leader of the machine translation research team at ADAPT in DCU said
“I am personally thrilled to hear about the acquisition of Iconic by RWS, having worked closely with the co-founders of Iconic for many years.
The unique ecosystem here at the SFI ADAPT Research Centre at DCU, comprising world-class MT engineering capability in the School of Computing coupled with leading human translation specialists in the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies stirs innovation and enterprise.”
About RWS Group
RWS is the world’s leading provider of intellectual property support services (patent translations, international patent filing solutions and searches), a market leader in life sciences translations and linguistic validation, a leading localization provider, and a high-level specialist language service provider in other technical areas, providing for the diverse needs of a blue-chip multinational client base spanning Europe, North America and Asia. RWS is based in the UK, with offices across five continents.
About Iconic Translation Machines
Iconic Translation Machines is a multi-award winning provider of Neural Machine Translation software and solutions. Founded in 2013 by Dr John Tinsley and Dr Páraic Sheridan as a high tech spin-out from Dublin City University, Iconic specialises in the development of bespoke solutions, tailored with subject matter expertise, for a range of specific industry sectors including legal, life sciences, high-tech, and more. Iconic is the MT partner of choice for some of the world’s largest enterprise organisations, law firms, and service providers helping them to translate more content, more accurately and in less time, resulting in significant cost savings and increased revenue.
Photo: L-R Dr. Páraic Sheridan, Co-Founder & Chairman, Diane O’Reilly, Global Head of Enterprise Sales and Dr. John Tinsley, Co-Founder & CEO