Three companies, BFree Foods, Dr Coy's Health Foods and Ocean Harvest Technology have been shortlisted in the Agri Food Category of The Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovations Awards 2015.
Wicklow-based Dr Coy's was nominated for its nutritional chocolate bar, based on the medical research of award winning oncologist, Dr Johannes Coy. It scored well on taste tests and is one of the few-patented chocolate bars in the world and promises to be to be high in fibre and vitamin E and free of Gluten and lactose.
BFree Foods in Dublin was nominated for its newest product, wheat free fajita kits, which came from research pointing to the lack of choice for meal options for free from consumers, as well as an insight that families prefer to make one meal for the whole family. BFree's answer was a healthy allergen-free fajita kit.
Ocean Harvest Technology based in Galway, developed a new feed to increase their omega 3 levels by up to 30%. Their newly patented formulation improves the health of the fish and its immune system, while also helping to produce a healthier product for the consumer.
The aim of the awards, now in their sixth year, is to showcase and reward excellence in innovation across a range of products and services. Eighteen enterprises from across the island and from six different industry categories have been nominated.
The overall winner of 'Innovation of the Year' will win a communications and advertising package from The Irish Times, worth over €150,000. They'll also win a UCD Smurfit Business School scholarship for an Executive Education programme commencing in 2016 and a state of the art laptop.
The full list of nominated companies are;
Agri Food Category: BFree Foods (Dublin), Dr. Coy's Health Foods Ltd (Wicklow) and Ocean Harvest Technology (Galway)
Bioscience Category: Embo Medical (Galway), Fusion Antibodies Ltd (Antrim) and Lloyds Online Doctor (Dublin)
Creative Industries Category: ARCKIT (Dublin), The Creativity Hub (Antrim) and WholeWorldBand (Dublin)
Energy & The Environment Category: AmbiSense Ltd (Dublin) REDT Energy (Dublin) and Surface Power HONE (Dublin)
IT & Communications: Core Systems (Antrim), Nautilus NI Ltd (Down), Sedicii (Waterford)
Manufacturing: AmaTech Group Ltd (Galway), Andor Technology (Antrim), Panelduct (Mayo)
© 2015 - Checkout Magazine by Jenny Whelan