SMART IRELAND
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is on the cusp of an explosion, with new uses being found for the technology on a daily basis. One example he gives is a US com- pany that prints out avatars for the World of Warcraft online game,which has 10million players. “Themarket is evolving,whichmakes it very exciting,”MacCor-
mack says. “It’s possible that the biggest uses of this technology in the future haven’t even been established
yet.All the timewe have people contacting us, asking if they can use it for different things. “In the future, I see every university, every school, every engi-
neering studio and hospital, and a lot of cottage industries, hav- ing 3D printers. And there’ll be shops where you’ll be able to go in and get your objects 3Dprinted. “Our goal is tomake those productsMcor Technologies prod-
ucts.We think that our roadmap enables us to do that, because of the low-cost and the eco-friendly nature of it.”
GREEN ADVANTAGE Making the printer eco-friendlywas always an aspirational thing for the brothers because they believed it would be important for getting it into schools and universities.
L–r: Dr ConorMacCormack,CEO,McorTechnologies; Silicon Valley-based technology entrepreneur and inventor JohnRyan, chairman,McorTechnologies; and FintanMacCormack,CTO, McorTechnologies
‘Themarket is evolving,whichmakes it very exciting. It’s possible that the biggest uses of this technology in the future haven’t even been established yet’
“It caused us a lot of difficulties. Using a solvent-based adhe-
sivewould have been easier.” But now it’s proving to be an advantage. “It’s becoming more
mandatory, especially with the government bodies and schools and universities. They have to have a certain element of sustain- ability built into the products they buy.When you have that green credential beside it, it’s another tick and itmakes the sale a little bit easier.” The company’s twomain competitors are still using the plastic
and powder technology and are focused on that side of themar- ket, saysMacCormack. “They’remaking a fortune on consumables,whereas ourmodel
is onmachine sales.” Mcor is based in Ireland andMacCormack indicates that the
company intends to remain here and recentlymoved into a new facility inDunleer,CoLouth.With a staff of 11, it is currently in the process of hiringmore people. “We see ourselves as an R&D, sales andmarketing company,”
he says. “We’ve outsourced our manufacturing to a company in the UK.We see very high-quality, high-end employment in our company in Ireland such as engineering, software, processing and chemical engineering.”
BOUND FOR THE US Mcor sells directly into theUKand Irishmarkets and has signed up resellers across Europe and South Africa and is just about to do so inBrazil,Chile andArgentina. “But our biggest step nowis
moving into theUS,” saysMacCormack, adding that the company recently opened an office in the Irish Innovation Centre in San José, which will double as a demo site over the coming months, ahead of theUS launch. Themove into theUS is obviously being helped along by John
Ryan,who has described the printer as “a trulyworld-class prod- uct, which is a great tribute to Irish entrepreneurship and the technical skills and perseverance of theMcor team”. It’s also being helped by a recent US$1m investment by the
WildeAngels Investment Fund ofwhich Ryan ismanaging part- ner. The introduction to Ryan and the investment came about after the company reached the finals of the Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG) company of the year awards inApril. “We got a chance to showcase our products and pitch to the
very high-profile people in SiliconValley and itwas a brilliant op- portunity,” saysMcCormack. “ITLG and John Ryan have really opened up the doors to us.
Fundraising for amanufacturing business is tough, because there are long leads, there’s a bit of gamble as well and there are so many things you have to get in place. “This has really opened the doors to a community in America
that is a little bit less risk averse and they’re able to take onwhat we’re trying to do and how big we feel this business potentially can be,” he concludes. “They’ve really grasped that with both hands and runwith it.”
This article first appeared in IrishDirectormagazineAutumn 2011 Issue 3 Autumn/Winter 2011 INNOVATION IRELAND REVIEW 35
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