Embryonic Ulster spinout company, Tactility Factory scooped the top prize in the university section of the Big Idea business competition - and another two Ulster Companies, Sophia Search Ltd and Causeway Data Communications Ltd, made it through to the final taking second and third place.

The Big Idea competition was organised as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week and spinout companies and proof of concept teams at the University of Ulster and Queen’s University, Belfast were invited to put forward their proposals for strategic business development.

Managed by the Northern Ireland Centre for Entrepreneurship, (NICENT) at both institutions, the competition engaged the support of an international mentor, Professor Ed Marram of Babson College in Boston, who provided insights and ideas to team members as they prepared their final business plan submission to international judges.  

All six finalists in the universities category were awarded £5,000 towards international travel for business development and, as overall category winner, Tactility Factory received an additional £10,000 cash prize to help implement their business proposal.

Tactility Factory, a collaborative project between Professor of Architecture Ruth Morrow and Textile Designer Trish Belford, has developed a range of products called Girli Concrete™.

Girli Concrete™ is an innovative process that transforms concrete into an exciting and tactile material by embedding within it such delicate materials as linen, velvet and even pearls. The process also allows a unique ‘stitched’ surface to be developed that echoes the imagery of traditional lace production.

As Professor Morrow explains, "Integrating textile technologies into concrete manufacture adds an additional level of aesthetics and transforms low tech, low cost materials into high value products.

“The work that we do has been a long time in development and undergone considerable testing but ultimately that effort allows Tactility Factory to push the boundaries: integrating hard surfaces and traditionally low technologies, with soft, delicate materials and more complex technologies such as laser cutting, etching, flocking and digital printing.”  

Tactility Factory has secured a number of commissions, including one for a 7.5 metre long frieze for the entrance of the newly refurbished Playhouse in Derry. Its Big Idea proposal is to demonstrate a mass market interest in Girli Concrete™ to attract potential partners to license the technology and process.

Professor Morrow  continued,  "We are absolutely delighted that the Tactility Factory has been successful in this award and that judges from around the world (Dubai, Mumbai, Beijing, Boston and Belfast) had such confidence in our ‘Big Idea’. It’s a key moment in the development of Tactility Factory and a sign of the excellent support that we have had from Office of Innovation staff.

Professor Pauric McGowan, Director of NICENT said: "Any prospect of an effective recovery from our growing economic woes will depend on the vision and efforts of entrepreneurial people such as Ruth and Trish. The success of Tactility Factory and of others in the Big Idea competition, given its global dimension, is to be celebrated. We need many more such successes in the future.”

'The Big Idea!' awards were presented by television presenter and singer, Myleene Klass and funded by InvestNI, the Department of Education and the Department for Employment and Learning.  

For further information, please contact:

Trina Porter
Telephone: 028 71675511
Email: Trina Porter