Dan Maher
Founder Nua Venture
Technology, venture capital and company building
Dan’s career spans engineering, product development, international technology management, venture capital, research commercialisation and innovation strategy. He has worked across industry, academia and government, with hands-on experience in R&D, marketing, business development, operations and finance.
Nua Venture | 2009–present
Dan founded Nua Venture in 2009 to focus on innovation management and the dynamics of new venture creation, development, funding and growth. His engagements have included strategy consultancy, mentoring, interim leadership and education.
ACT Venture Capital | 1997–2009
As Head of Technology Strategy, Dan gained extensive early-stage investment due diligence experience across semiconductors, software, sensors, communications, materials science, environmental monitoring, medical devices and health science. His experience includes technology transfer, university spinouts and board-level company development across Ireland, the UK, France, Germany and the US. He participated in raising venture capital funds, including the €170m ACT2001 fund.
Operating and research leadership
Earlier roles included management positions at Digital Equipment Corporation, product development at Siemens and Medinet and R&D leadership at BioMedical Research. His CV also records interim executive leadership at Trinity College Dublin’s CRANN Institute and AMBER Research Centre.
Ocean innovation
Dan’s marine experience includes the Marine Institute’s Smart Ocean strategy, the SmartOcean Innovation Exchange, TechWorks Marine, Commissioners of Irish Lights and SmartBay Ireland. Interimships at the Department of Oceanography Univesity of Galway. Dan created RTE’s radio documentary on underwater sound; Sounds from Inner space, recorded at Scripps Institution of Oceanography & Woods Hole Oceanographic institution.
Education and teaching
Dan holds an MBA from INSEAD (1989) and a Master in Engineering Science in Digital Signal Processing from University College Dublin (1980). He lectured at Graduate School of Business, UCD from 1994 to 2019, on innovation management and new venture funding, and has taught across a range of institutions and international programmes.