Teagasc Food Researcher Wins Enterprise Ireland Award for Contribution to Food Industry

Dr. Paul Ross has won Enterprise Ireland’s Lifescience and Food Commercialisation Award 2008.

Dr. Ross is Head of Biotechnology at Teagasc’s Moorepark Food Research Centre and was presented with his award at a conference hosted by Enterprise Ireland in association with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food that is looking at technology solutions for food and animal feed in Cork today (25th November 2008).

Presenting the award, Dr Joe Healy, Enterprise Ireland’s Food Technology Manager, said; “Dr. Ross’s success in bringing his research to the marketplace has been phenomenal – in the last four years he has licensed seven new technologies to companies in the food sector, more than any Irish researcher to date.”

Dr. Ross has also been heavily involved in the recently announced Functional Foods Research Centre in which Enterprise Ireland is investing €20 million to facilitate the delivery of new high-value innovative food products for health conscious consumers.

Functional foods, convenience foods, food security and traceability are all areas of growth in the food and drinks industry which had an €18 billion gross output last year and currently employs over 110,000 people in Ireland.

A Food Research Map which pinpoints the location of research experts in the food and drinks industry was launched by Enterprise Ireland at the event.

The map lists the names of hundreds of researchers in 26 research performing organisations* that are available to do collaborative research with companies in the dairy, meat, beverages, agri-marine and prepared consumer foods sectors.

Over €150 million has been invested in food research in Ireland in the last 5 years. This funding has greatly expanded the national research infrastructure which is now primed for increased collaboration with industry to take advantage of the emerging consumer trends for convenience and functional foods.