A programme at the National Digital Research Centre is helping to energise green technology start-ups, writes JOHN REYNOLDS

A UTILITY company with five million customers using “smart” meters will generate more data on a daily basis than all the data currently in existence at WalMart, the world’s biggest corporation, according to an industry estimate.

Owners of depleted natural gas fields that sell storage and flow capacity to utilities and energy traders are losing hundreds of millions of euro every year because of inefficiencies in how they manage their assets.

Seizing opportunities to solve problems like these is the key to Irish IT-focused green technology start-ups becoming world leaders, according to John Geoghegan, a greentech expert and senior commercial development associate at the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) in Dublin’s Digital Hub.

A skills base of people with expertise in data aggregation, analytics, optimisation and decision support systems already exists – thanks to companies such as Ericsson and Motorola having global network management centres here, or having previously had them, in Motorola’s case, he says. And organisations including An tSlí Ghlas, the Irish Software Association, the Irish Venture Capital Association and Engineers Ireland all agree.

“Smart technologies are linked with the future of energy – and that creates a huge opportunity for Ireland. I meet a lot of companies and entrepreneurs and people in IT, and they all see that this could provide the next wave of growth for their products and services,” Brian Motherway, head of strategy at the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) concurs.

The challenge now is to attract and assist more companies such as the two current members of the NDRC’s Catalyser programme – Thinksmart Technologies and Keelvar Systems. While collaborating with researchers from University College Cork, both companies are benefiting enormously from the programme’s mentoring, feasibility and marketing analysis, evaluation and translational research services, plus the use of its incubator office space in the heart of Dublin.

Thinksmart is developing software called SmartCarbon, a decision-making tool that enables dynamic, real-time consideration of the CO2 emissions in the use of various materials, products and designs when retro-fitting old buildings to make them energy efficient or when designing new ones.

Keelvar Systems, meanwhile, is developing trading support software designed using game theory that will maximise income for both gas storage owners and all the leaseholders of a shared gas field.

Given their target markets, both firms stand a chance of earning healthy returns. According to recent figures from analysts Verdantix, spending by large US firms on carbon and energy management software will increase to €395 million in 2014, indicating the potential market for SmartCarbon.

In the case of Keelvar Systems, based on the €7 billion of gas storage contracts traded annually, its software tool could increase the annual revenues of companies in this sector by up to €355 million.

But Geoghegan is conscious of how difficult it is to start a business, no matter how lucrative its potential. “We’re all familiar with the statistics about 90-something per cent of start-ups failing in their first three to five years – if not beforehand. Starting up can be a lonely experience, you need people off of whom you can bounce ideas, including some who might’ve done it before or who can identify with your challenges, and that’s what the programme can offer.”

With 30 years’ experience in the Information, Communications and Technology sector behind him – in both commercial and more technical RD roles with Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson and global firm Cable Wireless, he has first-hand experience of many of the problems entrants are likely to encounter.

His CV includes stints with various start-ups, one of which came close to striking digital content deals with some global names.

“Myself and several colleagues were working for free, but we failed when we ran out of cash. I can safely say that wouldn’t have happened if we’d had the benefit of this programme. On one occasion a colleague based in Barcelona couldn’t afford to travel to an important meeting in Milan. All he had was the price of the cheapest Ryanair ticket to Dublin, so he flew here and I gave him the cash to get to Milan so he could make the meeting,” he remembers.

No such problems will be encountered by global giants like IBM and GE, which are rapidly making inroads into the greentech and green digital sector. Does this mean Irish start-ups should be discouraged?

“We look at it from the point of view that we might be more nimble than any competitors, or we’ll aim to do something more cheaply. We might become a thorn in their side and capture market share. That could present an exit strategy of being bought out by a competitor or one of the global names.

“Part of the commercial development process which we take very seriously in the Catalyser programme is assessing the uniqueness and defensibility of a business proposition. We look at whether IP can be and should be locked down, or whether there is a unique skillset or first mover advantage that exists.”

While Google and Microsoft might have abandoned their respective home energy monitoring software services, Powermeter and Hohm, the utility and infrastructure side – the smart grid – is where most RD efforts and investment by the likes of IBM are focused.

Those areas aside, other sectors ripe for innovation are in procurement, water management and infrastructure, sustainable transport and maintenance of wind turbines and marine energy installations, Geoghegan says.

As well as contacting organisations such as Enterprise Ireland and the HALO Business Angel Network, to which any mainstream start-up would turn, prospective start-ups knocking on the NDRC’s door should also speak not only to An tSlí Ghlas, but also to the SEAI, says Motherway.

“We’re regularly dealing both with indigenous firms, companies like Intel and Google here, as well as State bodies such as Enterprise Ireland and the IDA. Although we sometimes support research, our role in helping greentech start-ups develop is chiefly as a facilitator, connecting a lot of people in this sector.

“We can tap into our intelligence and skills eco-system to advise them about funding. We also help to link money with ideas and products and services with customers,” he adds.

Although SmartCarbon is still only three months in development, by the time Keelvar Systems begins trialling with its first potential customer, planned for October, Geoghegan hopes more companies will be availing of this growing greentech support network.