It@Cork awards honour Cork’s best innovators

A Cork city school was among the big winners along with Cork Migrant Centre and a number of innnovative businesses at the it@cork Leaders Awards last week.

Nagle Community College was revealed as the winner of The Excellence in Education award at the annual awards, winning €5,000 to promote STEM activities within their school for teachers and students.

Eight other winners were awarded, recognising standout innovation, growth and impact in the south west technology sector.

Award-winners included Trustap, which received the Scale Up of the Year award, and Clearstream Global Securities Services, which was recognised as the Multinational of the Year for 2021.

The Smart Technology Innovation award went to BioMarin while the it@cork Skillnet Best Workplaces award was awarded to Cloudera.

Excellence in social impact saw the Diversity, Inclusion and Social Impact award go to Wisetek while Tech Start Up of the Year was awarded to Limerick-based WrxFlo.

Paul Hourican of PFH was awarded Tech Person of the Year after being selected by the it@cork Executive Board for his commitment to developing and growing the tech sector in the region throughout his career.

Chairperson of it@cork Gillian Bergin presented the Chairperson’s Community Award to the Cork Migrant Centre at Nano Nagle Place for their commitment to supporting migrant families in the region through outreach and upskilling programmes.

Speaking about the awards, Ms Bergin, said: “Despite a tough year, we have seen world-class innovation and agility throughout the technology sector, in the south west region and beyond. We were hugely impressed by the standard of this year’s submissions; their energy, passion and optimism shone through and each finalist should be immensely proud. The 2021 Leaders Awards winners and finalists exemplify the best in our sector and I am confident that the future is bright for technology in the south west.”

it@cork Treasurer Aiveen Hyland, who led the project team behind the event said: “It has been my honour to oversee the awards process this year and I would like to thank all at it@cork, our sponsors and our judges for their time and dedication and indeed to our valued members for their support throughout 2021.”

The sponsors of this year’s awards included Enterprise Ireland, CH Robinson, Springboard Communications, Deloitte, Trend Micro, KPMG, Altada, it@cork Skillnet, and Cork County Council. All awards winners received bespoke glass sculptures created by Fermoy artist Suzanne O’Sullivan.

The annual Leaders Awards is one of two flagship events for it@cork each year designed to showcase the best of technology leadership, innovation and excellence in the region. A not-for-profit organisation, it@cork works with academia, private sector, and state agencies to promote the region as a technology excellence hub and provides a click-and-connect ecosystem for new and established companies to connect and participate in the region.