Kleerex, the company that won last year's overall National Innovation Award, boosted its turnover by 30 per cent in 1997 and is gearing up for expansion in Europe, a gathering in Dublin was told this week.
Other winners, such as DHL Worldwide and Expert Edge Computer Systems, have also gone from strength to strength.
Launching the 1998 National Innovation Awards, Forfas said a constant stream of new ideas was vital to help Irish-based companies grow. The awards which are sponsored by The Irish Times and Price Waterhouse and organised as part of the Government's Science, Technology & Innovation Awareness programme go each year to companies that "bring innovation to the forefront of business thinking".
Forfas chief executive Mr John Travers said the agency had tracked the fortunes of last year's winners and their success showed the importance of innovation.
Kleerex, a Dublin-based company that designs merchandising solutions for the retail trade, won the overall prize for its modular acrylic shop stands that made good use of space in supermarkets, forecourts, convenience stores and newsagents.
The company has nine innovative and commercially successful merchandising systems and employs 90 people.
Expert Edge Computer Systems, which won the small business prize for its research and development of tools to make computers easier to use, was acquired late last year by Wall Data, which has 70 offices across the world.
Chief executive of Wall Data, Mr John Wall, said he had been attracted to the smaller company because of its leading-edge products, technologies and services.
DHL Worldwide, which took the large business award for a stream of Irish innovations, chose its Irish operation to head the company's global Year 2000 taskforce.
WBT Systems, the winner of the campus company award for its use of the Internet for education, is growing rapidly. It has just opened an office in the US and expects to double its Irish workforce by the end of the year.
The closing date for entries this year is May 22nd. More information is available from Ms Martina McDonnell, Forfas, Wilton Park House, Wilton Place, Dublin 2.
