22nd December 2008

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A go-ahead young company with close ties to the University of Ulster has won a 50,000 Euro Ireland-wide award for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Software firm Media Lightbox led by Ulster graduate Shane Meehan picked up the Best Emerging Company Award in the InterTradeIreland All-Island Seedcorn Business Competition.

The first Northern Ireland firm to win the prize, Media Lightbox has benefited from an Ulster and Southern Regional College business development scheme for fledgling companies which is delivered through an “innovation partner”, Greenshoots Newry Ltd.

Media Lightbox won the award for  developing an innovative on-line library for sounds, images and text information. Chief Executive Shane Meehan graduated from the University’s Jordanstown Campus in 1997 with a BA (Hons) Consumer Studies.

His firm has already built an impressive client list ranging from leading marketing and PR agencies such as Cybercom and Spirit Marketing Group, to communications giant Vodafone. 

Eddie Friel, Head of Business Liaison and Academic Enterprise at Ulster’s Office of Innovation, said: “The University has been a partner of Greenshoots-Newry Ltd. since its inception in 2004 and is proud of the work that it has been doing with small and medium sized enterprises. The fact that a company based in Greenshoots is now picking up an all-island award is testament to the innovative business development support available there.”

Greenshoots-Newry Ltd is an incubation and innovation centre based at the Greenbank Campus of Southern Regional College.  It provides facilities and services to help take forward new business ideas – as well as assisting local firms to develop their existing businesses through technology and knowledge transfer links with the College and Ulster.

Kieran Fegan, Greenshoots Centre manager,  said: “This is a great win for the directors of Media Lightbox and for Greenshoots-Newry Ltd. I was delighted that they reached the final stages of the competition, considering the level of competition they were up against - and to win it really is the icing on the cake. Being recognised by the high-profile Seedcorn competition judging panel for their efforts will really enhance their profile.”

Explaining the benefits of his system, Shane Meehan, Director of Media Lightbox said: “Media quality is constantly improving and digital asset management has become one of the real hot topics in business today. Marketers and IT Managers alike are seeking solutions to improve the flow of information between colleagues and clients. Bandwidth limitations and firewall issues have become a daily occurrence for most businesses.

“We’ve all experienced problems associated with trying to email hi-res images or large presentations for example, and most of the time we resort to burning the files onto a CD and posting it.

“With Media Lightbox, storing and sharing digital files, finding files and wasting time resizing images is no longer an issue. With the click of a button valuable media assets can be shared with colleagues, clients and partners worldwide whilst providing full access control and powerful reporting.”

Mr John McGuinness, the Irish Minister for Trade and Commerce, said at the awards ceremony that although the economic climate was difficult, he was confident that indigenous companies would continue to play a critical role.  He said: “After all, today’s budding entrepreneurs are tomorrow’s big employers. That is why initiatives such as the Seedcorn competition, a flagship initiative of InterTradeIreland, are so important.”

For further information, please contact:

Trina Porter
Telephone: 028 71675511
Email: Trina Porter