A company has been selected for the second phase of Limerick's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) challenge, which will deliver innovative ways to address Fire Safety in Historic Buildings.

Building Intelligence company Safecility was named the winner of the challenge, meaning they will now look to develop, trial and monitor innovative solutions for buildings, with the Georgian Innovation District in Limerick as the testbed location. The firm will be awarded €59,500 out of the total original Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) challenge fund of €80,000.

The SBIR programme is organised by Limerick City and County Council in collaboration with Enterprise Ireland, Local Enterprise Office Limerick, Innovate Limerick and Dublin City Council. It aims to create partnerships between public sector bodies and SMEs to harness innovative ideas and develop unique solutions to specific problems.

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Rosie Webb, Head of Urban Innovation in Limerick City and County Council said: "It is important that we begin to think creatively and innovatively to develop solutions posed by our historic buildings. The opportunity of this challenge is to collaborate with innovative companies to create and test products and services that will assist in solving some of the challenges of adapting these buildings to current day uses.

"Notwithstanding the fact that a code of standards must be adhered to, these newly developed solutions will examine Emergency Sensory Lighting, Fire Door Sensors and Cavity Sensors that can then be rolled out in other building projects, helping to reduce re-development costs."

On winning the challenge, Cian O'Flaherty, CEO of Safecility added: "We are delighted to have been selected for Phase 2 of the SBIR challenge. The team in Limerick City and County Council are at the cutting edge of innovation, attempting to use data and new technologies to revitalise city centre living. We believe that Safecility - our automated building safety product - is the perfect platform to deliver innovative fire solutions for historic buildings in Limerick and internationally.

"The SBIR process is an incredible opportunity to work with the public sector to solve difficult problems and give our start-up a head start in a globally competitive marketplace. We believe the results of the work done here in Limerick will be picked up across Europe."

(CM/JG)