Enterprise Ireland
Annual Report and Accounts 2007

2. Industry-led research and innovation (continued)

• Homepage
• Chairman’s statement
• Chief Executive Officer’s report

---

• Section 1
  Achieving export sales
• Section 2
  Industry-led research and innovation
  • Glanbia investment underscores commitment to R&D innovation
  • Vouchers drive innovation to the top of agenda
  • Spin-out impact set to be huge for Stokes Bio
  • Conference spreads commercialisation message
• Section 3
  World class productivity and management development
• Section 4
  Starting and scaling companies
• Section 5
  Driving regional enterprise

---

• Membership of the Board and Committees
• Organisation structure
• Corporate governance
• Financial statements
• Global office network

Commercialising publicly-funded research

To enhance Ireland’s economic competitiveness and ensure continued growth, companies and the research community must collaborate to produce technologies that are innovative and that can be brought to market in the shortest time frame possible. This involves commitment to industry-led R&D and strong collaboration and integration between the State, business and research communities. Along with Science Foundation Ireland and IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland is proactive in driving the commercialisation of publicly-funded R&D.

Our Commercialisation Fund supports applied research to develop new technologies that will form the basis of start-up companies or licenses to established companies. We extended the fund to three calls in 2007 and promoted the Fund through tailored workshops in Universities and Institutes of Technology. This resulted in an increase in applications and in first-time applicants, leading to Enterprise Ireland approving 159 projects during 2007, involving a funding commitment of €26 million.

In addition to the financial support offered by the Commercialisation Fund, Enterprise Ireland’s commercialisation specialists work with companies and third-level researchers in three key technology areas (Lifesciences and Food, Informatics, and Industrial Technologies) to find the best route to market for research results. In 2007, 11 new high potential start-up companies emerged from Enterprise Ireland-sponsored research and 31 technologies were licensed to companies. For the first time Irish companies formed the majority of the commercial users of these licenses, signifying the increasing commercial applicability and value of publicly-funded research.

Also in 2007, Enterprise Ireland hosted the first Irish research commercialisation conference, Growth Through Technology. Attended by over 230 delegates, venture capitalists, private investors, entrepreneurs and senior researchers, the conference was instrumental in developing stronger links between business and the research community to accelerate the commercialisation of research.

Strengthening third-level technology transfer expertise

The first tranche of the Enterprise Ireland-funded €30 million Technology Transfer Office Strengthening Fund was formally launched in 2007. This five-year programme aims to facilitate the development of high-quality and effective systems and policies in the technology transfer offices of third-level colleges to ensure that intellectual property is identified, protected and, where possible, transferred into companies in Ireland. In tandem, a network of the Directors of Technology Transfer was set up to encourage the exchange of experience and the development of best practice. To date, funding of €17 million has been approved to provide professional case managers and support staff in technology transfer offices.