Irish IoT start-up Davra receives funding from European Space Agency

Davra was one of three Irish companies awarded a share of €1.5m in co-funding from the European Space Agency.

Irish IoT start-up Davra was recently awarded funding from the European Space Agency (ESA) Centre for Earth Observation.

The Dublin-based company secured 50pc co-funding for a €570,000 project to develop an integrated satellite and distributed ground sensor system to monitor missing tailings storage facilities (TSFs) in remote locations.

Founded in 2012, Davra has developed an application enablement platform (AEP) that allows system integrators, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and end customers to define, build and rapidly bring to market industrial-grade IoT applications.

The announcement was made by Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation Research and Development John Halligan, TD.

Halligan also announced that two other Irish businesses were awarded co-funding from the ESA, with a total value of more than €1.5m. These were Galway-based photonics business Mbryonics and Dublin’s Skytek.

Mbryonics secured €800,000 in funding to support the development of a software-defined optical transport network to deliver very high-throughput earth observation data downloads. The system addresses the issue of cloud blockage that has previously prevented reliable high-capacity optical data downlinks.

Meanwhile, Skytek was awarded €470,000 in co-funding to support the development of an advanced application to allow insurers to assess the real-time scale of cargo in ports, enabling them to effectively manage risks. The application is based on advanced analytic techniques, such as AI and machine learning.

‘Achieving the goals of Ireland’s National Space Strategy’

While visiting the ESA Centre for Earth Observation, Halligan said: “I am delighted to be announcing more contracts between Irish companies and the European Space Agency.

“I am particularly pleased that these contracts will support our companies to strengthen their capabilities in the field of earth observation, enabling us to achieve the goals of Ireland’s National Space Strategy for Enterprise.

“[This is] in addition to supporting the aims of Future Jobs Ireland, which places a focus on embracing innovation and technological change, transitioning to a low carbon economy, and developing talent and enhancing skills in areas including big data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence.”

Halligan also announced that Maynooth University, in collaboration with ESA, will soon launch a €500,000 stakeholder engagement project. Under this initiative, Irish companies can receive funding to pilot solutions for information needs identified by public sector partners.

Halligan said: “I encourage relevant companies in Ireland to identify potential opportunities for collaboration with public sector partners and, moreover, to work together to show that satellite derived data can provide timely information, important for supporting the delivery of many public service monitoring and control activities.”