INNOVATORS:This month's innovators have identified ingenious ways to use new technology to reduce wasted time and effort

Sensing levels of recovery

A CONSTANT recurring frustration for physiotherapists is the poor compliance by patients with the specific, repetitive exercises required to recuperate.

"Patients would admit to a 70 per cent non-compliance rate - that is what they admit to, so the true level of non-compliance is probably far higher," says Dr Brian Caulfield of the School of Physiotherapy & Performance Science in UCD.

Even when the patient performs the required exercises, there is "the problem of people not doing it properly".

The combination of the two factors means treatment outcomes are undermined by patients.

To address these problems, Caulfield, his colleague Diarmaid Fitzgerald and Prof Barry Smyth from the school of Computer Science and Informatics in UCD, have developed a wearable computer monitoring system that measures whether or not a patient is doing their exercises correctly.

Their company, Exergaming Solutions, uses computer games that oblige the wearer to repeat certain movements to improve their physical capacity and skill.

The technology uses a band with a sensor worn on the leg or the arm linked to a computer game.

To play the game, the patient is required to make specific movements.

The sensory technology allows the physiotherapist to monitor how often the patient does the exercises and whether or not they are done correctly.

"We have proven accuracy and efficacy where the sensors measure movement of the target segment," Caulfield says.

The technology is due for market testing at the start of January with a view to a commercial launch in early 2010.

Exergaming Solutions is part of the NovaUCD programme.

"Our target market initially will be approximately 500,000 physiotherapy clinics in the United States and European Union and our second phase will be selling directly to the public," according to Caulfield.

The company is not planning to licence the technology, with Caulfield saying the preference is to directly produce - with the aid of sub-contractors - and market the product.

The answer to rotting wood

AS ANYONE with decking in their garden knows only too well, maintaining wood in Ireland's damp climate requires effort, time and usually a little elbow grease.

To counter these problems, Irish company JFC Earth-wood has developed a wood polymer entirely made from recycled materials.

Serial innovator John Concannon, managing director of Mullingar-based JFC Earth-wood, says the wood polymer is produced from an almost 50/50 mixture of fine sawdust from sawmills and high-density polyethylene, or plastic recycled from soft drinks bottles.

"It is a closed loop. All the materials we use are recycled. We buy in material from Greenstar and Barna Waste, reprocess it and manufacture the product."

The polymer has a wood finish and while it does not require varnish or other treatments, it will fade in colour when exposed to sunlight in a similar fashion to natural wood.

"It has its own natural colour from the wood, but the plastic gives it strength and stops it rotting. We guarantee the product for 10 years, but it will last a lifetime," says Concannon. He says the product is similar in price to hardwoods, but more expensive than softwood products. "This is a new technology to Ireland. There are a couple of similar plants in the US, but we are the only one here."

Earth-wood employs six people in Mulligar and Concannon says he is targeting the marina market. "Our product is suitable for marinas and other wood installations exposed to water." The company has tendered for the Galway marina and intends to export to Europe.

Energy control via the web

LIMERICK-BASED Gary Carroll is a serial entrepreneur.

He sold his first company Blackbird Data Systems for €9 million eight years ago and his second company is almost ready for launch.

His new company EpiCentre monitors environmental devices and applications controlling energy, water and carbon systems using "Zigbee technology".

Carroll describes Zigbee technology as the next step in the chain that produced Wifi to Bluetooth. "Zigbee is a wireless networking system for devices rather than people. The web we all know exists in the digital domain. The sensor web brings the physical world together with the digital world of the web."

One area Carroll is excited about is street lamps. He says there are over 90 million street lamps in Europe each of which requires a rigorous system of manual checking and maintenance.

Carroll's SICA platform involves embedding a small communications and control device in each light."This gives you complete control and information about these lights. You can measure its performance - does it switch on or off at the right time? Is it faulty, how much electricity is it using?"

According to Carroll, the energy savings from such a system are just one benefit.

"It means you can make intelligent decisions about maintenance," he says.

"It means the technician doesn't need to actually drive to the point in question to inspect the light, so there is a fairly significant labour saving."

The technology is currently being trialled and Carroll says he has expressions of interest from the UK, Germany, New Zealand and the Middle East.

Research suggests energy monitoring systems can generate overall savings of between 20 and 30 per cent and Carroll says the technology is equally applicable to vast computer servers, water treatment plants, energy monitoring in large buildings and a range of other activities where precise monitoring of environmental data is required. It has the added benefit of extremely low power requirements.

The energy required for computer servers is estimated to use more energy than the airline industry, he says.

While he plans to sub-contract out the manufacture of the sensors, Carroll says he will continue to own and develop the product and is not looking to sell EpiCentre.

Enterprise Ireland is a shareholder in EpiCentre, having invested €250,000; AIB Seed Capital has a €500,000 stake and Carroll has also invested in the firm himself.

Job paths for special needs

AN EDUCATIONAL psychologist has developed a specialist software tool that helps secondary schools and parents assess and profile the strengths and interests of students with special needs.

Stephanie Fitzgerald designed the Taking Our Life Forward programme to get young people thinking about what they wanted to do. The programme allows parents and schools to help these students identify possible career paths through a series of exercises and questions. While the programme is deemed successful, to expand, Fitzgerald realised she would have to look at a different method of delivering it for a wider audience.

"In July, we started looking at how to extend the concept and put it into an interactive software package that will profile the strengths, interests and weaknesses of students with special needs."

DESTine was funded by Enterprise Ireland to develop the concept and is also part of the NovaUCD programme.

A driving force behind the development is the legislative requirement for schools to provide this service, but most have neither the resources nor the expertise.

"This is a solution that provides them with a tool to meets their requirements and helps young people who don't fit into the mainstream system to have more positive futures."

Fitzgerald is targeting a launch of early 2010 and says the initial focus will see the programme provided online.