Sean Sherlock TD, Minister for Research and Innovation today (Tuesday 22nd January 2013) announced that TreeMetrics, an Irish based innovator in forestry, data analytics and measurement solutions, has secured a significant €800,000 contract, with the European Space Agency (ESA). The contract was secured with the help of Enterprise Ireland, the co-ordinating body for ESA in Ireland. The funding will support the global roll-out of the company's innovative web-based satellite mapping application for the forestry industry.
The Enterprise Ireland-backed company also plans to recruit a further ten software engineers over the next twelve months to expand its workforce at its Cork facility to thirty. The company is receiving significant interest from multinational timber growers to develop its proprietary system.
The TreeMetrics’ solution replaces traditional calipers and measuring tape with technology for the first time in over 100 years of forestry measurement. Easy-to-use 3D laser scanners can quickly and accurately measure the shape, size, and straightness of standing trees. The cutting-edge technology uses this information to predict the quantities of log products that each tree can produce, and their potential value. The TreeMetrics’ solution offers a better means of managing forests and determining which areas best match sawmill requirements. Ultimately this leads to a reduction in the quantity of trees that need to be cut, while reducing waste and improving forest profitability.
Making the announcement Minister Sherlock said: “TreeMetrics is yet another example of how Ireland’s investment in ESA is assisting Irish technology companies in supporting technology innovation, leading to export sales and increased employment. TreeMetrics is a world showcase representing the best in Irish technology and innovation and is further realisation of the Government’s strategy to optimise the return on Ireland’s ESA investment, announced at the Recent ESA Ministerial Council in November, as well as state investment in R&D. I wish the company every success in bringing its highly innovative solutions to the market”
Commenting on today's announcement, Enda Keane, TreeMetrics, CEO, said: “We are confident that TreeMetrics’ technology can have a major impact on how we assess and manage the world’s forests. Today's contract award with the European Space Agency (ESA) complements a recent series of commercial contracts wins for the company. We view this award as an endorsement of our product innovation, having satisfied ESA's very thorough approval standards. TreeMetrics are the only company in the world with this proprietary data analytical technology. The European Space Agency is supporting us to make our technology more readily available to forest owners globally, as a web application.”
“Our mission over the next five years is to transform the traditional global forestry industry into a more sustainable, cost effective, higher value business, utilising our new web based application, in forests across the world.”
Prof. Amnon Ginati, Head of the Integrated and Telecommunications Related Applications Department, at the European Space Agency, said: “In the SATellite Forestry Monitoring 3D (SATForM 3D) project TreeMetrics has managed to get the active support from the main forest owners and managers in Ireland, representative of 80% of the forest land in the country. This clear user-driven approach and the proposition of a novel forest monitoring platform integrating the latest satellite positioning and remote sensing data with TreeMetrics ground-based forest information, is a great example for and a perfect match with the European Space Agency Integrated Application Promotion programme”
ENDS
Photos to follow from:
Ger MacCarthy, 021 2395993, germac@germac.ie
For More Information Please Contact:
Declan OLeary, Media Mentor, Declan.oleary@mediamentorpr.com, +353 1 4370143
Ciara Clogher: Communications, Research & Innovation, Enterprise Ireland Ciara.clogher@enterprise-ireland.com +353 86 0759268
Roisin McCann, Press Officer, Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, roisin.mccann@djei.ie, 01 631 2200.
Editor Notes:
About TreeMetrics:
TreeMetrics is known in the industry as the Google of World Forestry, just as Google indexed the web to make it searchable, TreeMetrics also want to index the trees of the world so that we can better understand and manage it more sustainably.
The company has undergone a period of rapid expansion in the past three years, from a typical fast growth, Campus Incubator Technology company, accelerating onto the global stage across North America, Europe and Australia, providing cost efficient, forestry measurement solutions for both multinational lumber companies, as well as private and state forestry companies in Ireland (Coillte), UK, Finland, New South Wales and US (Kentucky).
TreeMetrics Technology:
Our technology is able to better assess the complex structure of forests by utilising both ground based and space borne 3D sensors. The company has pioneered automated software analysis tools that make sense of this new data. The company has spent seven years collecting 3D information from many different forest types around the world. Forests are very complex with huge variations in structure. Our technology is the first of its kind that is able to assess this complex variation.
Proof of Concept:
TreeMetrics has received support from foresters all over the globe. Over the past year we started to share our vision with the world of forestry, at trade events and in timber industry publications. Foresters consequently reacted and they are now sending us 3D laser data of their forests all over the world. It really is exciting to see the data flooding in from different forest types around the globe.
TreeMetrics has an important role to play in the management of the planets environmental ecosystem.