THE HEALTH status of newborn babies sent to neonatal intensive care may soon be monitored by intelligent computers.
The system will be smart enough to raise the alarm if something goes wrong and link over the internet to consultant specialists based anywhere in the country.
The automated "Babylink" system is just one of 143 research projects to receive funding worth €23 million announced yesterday by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).
The awards, made under SFI's Research Frontiers programme, are shared across 10 research bodies and cover a range of disciplines including engineering, health, chemistry and energy among others.
Minister of State for Science, Technology and Innovation Dr Jimmy Devins presented the awards yesterday and also launched SFI's 2007 annual report.
SFI had provided more than €1 billion in State support since its first awards in 2001, Dr Devins noted. Investment in research was at the core of the Government's economic strategy, he said.
"It is vitally important. We want to have a situation where Ireland is a knowledge-based economy. That is the future of where this country is going to be."
During his address, Dr Devins quoted US inventor and statesman Benjamin Franklin, who said more than 200 years ago: "An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest"; that "remains true to this day", Dr Devins said.
It was wrong to focus too much on the money invested, said SFI director general Dr Frank Gannon. "It is time for us to look at what is happening to it."
SFI's research investments supported the work of some 5,000 scientists directly or indirectly, he said. The goal now was to see their research discoveries reach the market through start-up companies or technology-licensing arrangements.
Such commercialisation of Irish research supported SFI's efforts to achieve the transfer of "brains to business".
Dr Geraldine Boylan of University College Cork described the infant "telemonitoring" system being developed with SFI support. The latest working prototype uses a computer to interpret the infant's brainwave signals, watching for the hidden signs of seizure common in these babies, Dr Boylan said.
If a seizure is detected the system can use the internet to send real-time brainwave signals to a consultant based anywhere in the country for diagnosis.
Prof Han Vos of Dublin City University described his SFI-supported project aimed at producing hydrogen gas fuel from water using nothing more than ordinary sunlight.
"We have a problem with climate change and we have a problem with oil. If you burn hydrogen you get nothing but water . . . but where to you get the hydrogen," he said.
Chemist Prof Carmel Breslin of NUI Maynooth described her goal to produce special metal-protecting coatings that not only resist corrosion but can also "heal" damaged metal surfaces.