Longship CEO and participant in the 2010 Genesis Programme Conor Buckley has been named as ‘Cork Person of the Year’ for 2009 in recognition of his work in reviving the ferry between Cork and Swansea.

The announcement was made on Friday afternoon last at the Cork Person of the Year gala awards lunch, before an audience, which included guest of honour President Mary McAleese.

Conor and the team at Longship www.longshipe.com have an office here in the Rubcion building. They provided an outsourced business process called EPO (Energy Process Outsourcing) for commercial energy users who are dissatisfied with their energy costs and current energy efficiencies.  In 2009 they helped their partners (customers) reduce carbon emissions by over 100 tonnes of CO2 and saved them over €100,000. 

Radisens Diagnostics www.radisens.com has been recognised as the most investable startup among the fifteen pan-European startup companies who pitched at the recent "Going International" seed investment conference. Organised in collaboration with Cicom, CorkBIC and Sophia Antipolis Business Angels (SBA), the judging panel panel included representatives from French, UK, Finnish, Irish, Hungarian and Spanish Business Angel Networks, including the European Business Angel Network (EBAN), Succès Europe and Sophia Antipolis Business Angels (SBA). Commenting on the award, Jerry O’Brien, CEO of Radisens Diagnostics, said how “such recognition validates the strong team, competitive advantage and business model behind the point-of-care diagnostic business we are developing at Radisens. This gives us a real boost as we prepare to sample our detection prototypes into equipment manufacturers”.

Cork company Ferfics, has triumphed in the Munster regional finals stage of InterTrade Ireland’s Seedcorn Competition, winning the prestigeous prize for Best High Growth Company, securing a prize fund of €25,000.

Based in the Rubicon Centre, Ferfics was established in 2007 by Chief Executive Eugene Heaney. The company is at the leading edge of introducing new semiconductor technology for wireless applications, marketing their service worldwide.

Commenting on the company’s success in this stage of the Seedcorn competition, Mr Heaney said: “We are absolutely thrilled and humbled to have won the regional finals of the competition. We were delighted to have the opportunity to meet with some of Ireland’s leading business experts and gain from their wealth and knowledge.”