Brendan O’Malley, general manager of the University of Limerick headquartered Lero, the Irish Software Research Centre between 2010 and 2018, has won the 'The Career Recognition Award', sponsored by Intellicom, at the Tech Excellence Awards 2019 presented in Dublin recently.
Professor Brian Fitzgerald, director of the SFI backed Lero, said: “Through his work with Lero and before that the National Microelectronics Applications Centre, Brendan has been a major promoter for the adoption of software and microelectronics in Ireland. He has played a key role in building technology research collaboration between academia and industry.”
'Singular contribution one person has made to creation of our IT ecosystem'
Billy Huggard, event organiser, said: “It is at moments like this that we get the chance to draw breath and admire the singular contribution one person has made to the creation of our IT ecosystem. This should never go unnoticed and it is an honour that the Tech Excellence Awards can have the opportunity to bestow this recognition.”
Following an international career with General Electric and Westinghouse, Limerick born Brendan O’Malley, an electronics engineering graduate of University College Cork, was recruited in 1981 to set up MAC, the National Microelectronics Application Centre based at the then NIHE Limerick, now UL.
MAC provided an electronics-based contract product design and development service for Irish companies, large and small, drawing on NIHE expertise.
After three years in the USA with Digital Equipment, he took up several European management roles with Snap-on, eventually running its $100 million diagnostics business. He returned to Ireland in 2004 to work with Dairygold and then consult for SMEs and startups.
Asked to help build industry support for Lero
In 2010, he was asked to help build industry support for Lero, the Irish Software Research Centre, which brought together computer scientists in six Irish academic institutions to address the challenges of building large complex software systems reliably.
O'Malley's work at the
Lero research centre has seen it grow to nine academic institutions and more than 50 companies, large and small.
The Hibernia award for contribution to the Irish tech sector by a multinational went to Bill Kearney of IBM who is a member of Lero’s governance board.