University College Dublin Wins 2016 US-Ireland Research Innovation Award

University College Dublin (UCD) has won a 2016 US-Ireland Research Innovation Award.

The Awards celebrate excellence in research innovation that has taken place on the island of Ireland as a result of US business investment. This is the second year of the joint initiative between the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland and the Royal Irish Academy.

UCD won the Irish Higher Education Institution (HEI) Research Centre or Institute with US links category.

The University was announced as the overall winner of this category for its application by Professor John Murphy and Professor Liam Murphy from the Performance Engineering Laboratory (PEL) at UCD’s School of Computer Science.

The winning application outlined the impact of UCD’s decade-long research collaboration with IBM Dublin Software Lab which resulted in the invention of the ‘Real Time Correlation Engine’ (RTCE).

The RTCE uses novel data normalisation, clustering and filtering techniques to analyse log files, from several different sources, to find patterns and symptoms that indicate malfunction and enable rapid response in big data systems.

Working with the technology transfer and enterprise development teams at NovaUCD, the RTCE was identified as being of high potential from a commercial point of view.

In 2010 Logentries, a UCD spin-out company, was established by Dr Trevor Parsons and Dr Viliam Holub to commercialise the RTCE. Dr Parsons and Dr Holub had both spent several years working on the RTCE project within PEL.

Logentries went on to win the NovaUCD ‘Start-up of the Year Award’ in 2010, and was initially based at NovaUCD. Following the raising of over $11 million in funding the company opened offices in Boston and Prague.

In 2015, Logentries was acquired by Rapid7, a leading US security company, for $68 million. At the time of acquisition Logentries had 70 employees, was headquartered in Boston, with a research and development team in Dublin, and served more than 3,000 customers in more than 65 countries.

James O’Connor, Vice-President of the American Chamber said, “Innovation is at the very heart of what inspires the 140,000 talented men and women working in US companies in Ireland. I am very proud of our member companies and their talented people and how they deliver amazing innovation through collaborations with the Irish business and research sectors.”

On receiving the HEI Award Professor John Murphy, who leads the Performance Engineering Lab (PEL) in UCD’s School of Computer Science said, “We are delighted to have won this prestigious award which recognises the significant global impact of the Real Time Correlation Engine and its subsequent successful commercialisation. This resulted from our long-term research and innovation collaboration between PEL academics and researchers and the IBM Dublin Software Lab, in particular Dr Pat O’Sullivan and his team.”

He added, “Significantly, this collaboration also allowed UCD postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers to spend time working directly within IBM software development teams, to understand problems and challenges facing the global software industry.”

Professor Orla Feely, UCD Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact said, “I am delighted University College Dublin has won a prestigious 2016 US-Ireland Research Innovation Award. This Award recognises the success and impact of the University’s 10-year research collaboration with IBM, led by Professor John Murphy and Professor Liam Murphy in UCD’s Performance Engineering Laboratory.”

She added, “The invention of Real Time Correlation Engine not only provided a real-world benefit to our industry partner IBM, but its subsequent commercialisation underpinned the establishment of Logentries, a very successful UCD spin-out company, resulting in significant employment and investment in Ireland.”

The winners of the two other 2016 US-Ireland Research Innovation Awards were Hewlett Packard Enterprise (MNC Award) and Econiq (SME Award).

A special Lifetime Achievement Award was also presented to film maker, broadcaster and musician Philip King to recognise his enormous and outstanding contribution to the cultural relationship between Ireland and the United States.

The 2016 US-Ireland Research Innovation Awards are sponsored by KPMG and Ulster Bank.