Technology: A computer chip and software which could be used to adapt mobile phones to analyse fitness and heart rate levels is among three contenders for funding worth €70,000.
The software and chip can be used to turn a conventional mobile phone into a "health phone".
The phone harnesses technology to detect and analyse heart and respiration rates. It may also be used to measure sleep patterns.
Its developers, BiancaMed, said it utilised smart signal analysis and medical sensing technology.
BiancaMed, a UCD campus company, said it was being targeted at a range of people, including those who may have possible cardiac issues, athletes and keep-fit fans.
The company, which was formed about two years ago, has already developed some heart rate analysis software, according to BiancaMed director Conor Heneghan.
"Monitoring heart rate and heart rate variability are very good first indicators of cardiac health," said Mr Heneghan.
BiancaMed said the technology would provide early detection in changes in health.
Various devices already exist to monitor heart rates etc, but Mr Heneghan said the aim was to "move it onto a device such as the ubiquitous phone".
The aim is to incorporate the technology into mobile phones directly or develop it as a separate add-on which fits onto the phone.
"We are trying to see whether we can interface mobile phones and healthcare," he said, acknowledges that competition was strong elsewhere, including the US and Switzerland, with developers in a number of countries trying to do something similar. "There are a number of technical issues to work out," he said.
The company already provides technology for a product called Lifescreen Apnea, which is used to detect sleep apnea and was approved by the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) and was commercially released earlier this year.
Sleep apnea occurs when the sleeper's breathing is disrupted for several seconds and it can lead to serious medical problems. Lifescreen Apnea is being licensed to third parties and is being sold in the US and Europe.
The company hopes to include this technology on mobile phones too.
Enterprise Ireland's Pat Maher, who was one of the judges, said the confluence of electronics and medicine was something the industrial development agency was keen to foster.
He said such inventions had the potential to be used to reduce expensive health monitoring costs. "There is a great future in that area," he said.
BiancaMed also hopes that the software will support other markets including gym monitoring equipment and clinical cardiology.
BiancaMed is one of three finalists vying for €70,000 of mentoring and consultancy services and €10,000 cash from the David Manley Award. This is an award set up in honour of the late David Manley, former president of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, who assisted many small companies by advising and mentoring them.
Mr Heneghan said BiancaMed had received investment of around €250,000 from a US corporate investor called Resmed and Enterprise Ireland, the State agency charged with developing indigenous industry.
The winner will be announced tomorrow at a reception in the Dublin Chamber of Commerce headquarters.