NovaUCD names winner of Innovation Award

Nicola Mitchell, the founder and CEO of two life sciences companies, Life Scientific and BioScientific Diagnostics, has been presented with the NovaUCD 2009 Innovation Award.

Mitchell started Life Scientific in 1995 to help clients in the agrochemical industry get products to market more quickly. It has now evolved to the point where end-to-end plant protection product development can be carried out from initial concept to commercialisation.  

Mitchell established her second company, BioScientific Diagnostics, to provide expertise in the development, validation and utilisation of immuno and cell-based methods for the investigation of biopharmaceuticals and biomarkers.

Today Life Scientific and BioScientific Diagnostics operate from three facilities, including two certified laboratories in Blackrock, Dublin and NovaUCD, along with an office in London. The companies employ over 40 people, the majority of whom are scientists. Annual turnover is expected to reach €4 million this year, 95 per cent of which is derived from exports. The companies have established strategic links with key industrial players such as Amgen, Mitsui, FMC, Bayer, GSK and Pfizer.

Presenting the NovaUCD 2009 Innovation Award to Mitchell, Hugh Brady, President of University College Dublin, said, “The establishment, growth and development of companies such as Life Scientific and BioScientific Diagnostics is at the heart of the UCD/TCD Innovation Alliance’s objective of developing a world-class ecosystem for innovation that drives enterprise development and the creation of sustainable high-value jobs.”